The growth in production of eight key infrastructure sectors contracted 1.8 %in August this year due to a decline in the output of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, cement and electricity, according to official data released on Monday.

The growth rate was 6.1 %in July. The growth of core sectors -- coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity -- was 13.4 % in August 2023.

During April-August this fiscal, the output of core sectors rose 4.6 %against 8 %in the same period last fiscal.