New Delhi

Government released the index of eight core Industries for April which showed various industries like coal, cement and steel experienced substantial loss of production. The figures released by the Office of Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade said final growth rate of index of eight core industries for Jan 2020 remained unchanged at 2.2%. The January growth rate shows economy was in decline even before COVID-19 forced lockdown was declared from March 25. The eight core industries comprise 40.27 pc of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production. As per the summary of the index of eight core industries, coal production (weight: 10.33per cent) dipped by 15.5 per cent in April 2020 over April 2019.