New Delhi: After showing a healthy expansion of 7.1% in August, the growth in core infrastructure sector dropped to 4% in September, making analysts wonder whether robust industrial recovery can be sustained.

The coal and cement which had led the chart in August by showing an impressive growth of 12.9% and 17.6% respectively, slipped to 6.5% each in September, according to the official data released on Wednesday.

On year-on-year basis, the September growth this fiscal of the six sectors - cement, coal, steel, electricity, crude, oil and petroleum refinery products—remained unchanged at 4%.

The index of the core industries, which account for a quarter of the nation’s industrial production, had helped the factory output reach a robust 10.4% growth in August.

With infrastructure growth slipping again, it is a matter of debate if the August performance of the total industrial production can be repeated in September.

“I can say that IIP for September will not be in a double digit,” CRISIL principal economist D.K. Joshi said.

However, growth for the infrastructure industries for the first half of the current fiscal improved to 5% from 3.4% in April-September 2008-09.

“The figures reflect that investment and consumer demand is not growing,” ICRIER director Rajiv Kumar said.