Cumulative growth of eight core industries, which has 37.9 per cent weightage in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was 4.4 per cent in April-December period as compared to 5.7 per cent during the corresponding period of previous year, according to data released by the ministry of commerce and industry here.

The slower growth in core industries dampens hopes of a significant rebound in factory production in December.

Core industries have led to a significant turnaround in factory output in November. These industries had registered a growth of 6.8 per cent in November, leading to a 5.9 per cent growth in overall factory output.

The factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had increased by 5.9 per cent in November as against the 5.1 per cent contraction in the previous month.

Core industries had registered a growth of just 0.3 per cent in October, leading to a contraction in overall factory output.

Natural gas production contracted by 10.8 per cent in December, while the production of crude oil fell by 5.6 per cent.

Electricity generation, which has 10.32 per cent weight in the IIP, grew by 8 per cent in December 2011 as compared to 5 per cent growth registered during the corresponding month of previous year.

Cumulative growth of electricity generation in April-December period is 9.2 per cent as compared to 4.7 per cent in the corresponding period of last year.

Petroleum and refinery products and fertilisers production both registered a growth of 0.8 per cent each.

Steel production grew by 2.2 per cent in the month under review as compared to 9.4 per cent growth registered during the corresponding month of the previous year.

Cement production, which has 2.41 per cent weight in the IIP, registered a healthy growth of 13.3 per cent in December 2011 as against a contraction of 2.2 per cent in December 2010.

The cumulative growth of cement production was 5.3 per cent in April-December 2011-12 compared to its 4.4 per cent growth during the same period of 2010-11.