Government must review policies governing infrastructure industries: Assocham

NEW DELHI: Encouraged by the growth in the output of eight core industries in June, Assocham today said the new government needs to initiate a comprehensive review of policies and processes that govern infrastructure industries.

Helped by healthy growth in coal, crude oil, cement and electricity, the eight core industries grew by 7.3 per cent in June.

Growth in the infrastructure sector, which has a combined weight of about 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was 1.2 per cent in June 2013.

Coal, crude oil, cement and electricity recorded a growth of 8.1 per cent, 0.1 per cent, 13.6 per cent and 15.7 per cent respectively in the month under review.

"The ambiguity associated with the fixing of the price of gas has been affecting the performance of oil and gas sector," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.

"The new government needs to initiate a comprehensive review of not only policies but also processes that govern these core industries in order to clear infrastructure hurdles to growth," he added.

During April-June, growth in the eight core industries grew by 4.6 per cent from 3.7 per cent in the year-ago period.