India’s eight core industries grew at four percent year-on-year in December 2017, data released on the website of the office of the economic adviser showed on Wednesday. The eight core industries comprise coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity.

The core sector growth rate for December 2017 is lower than the 6.8% in November, which had been revised to 7.4%. The eight core industries comprise over 40% of the weight of items included in measuring the index of industrial production.

The cement industry showed the best growth – 19.6% year-on-year – among all eight core sector industries in December. The next best performer was steel, whose production grew 6.7%. The two industries which showed negative growth were coal (down 0.1%) and crude oil (down 2.1%).

The core sector’s cumulative growth rate for the April-December 2017 period was 4%, the government data showed.