The growth in production of eight key infrastructure sectors contracted 1.8 per cent 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 per cent in July. The growth of core sectors -- coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity -- was 13.4 per cent in August 2023. During April-August this fiscal, the output of core sectors rose 4.6 per cent against 8 per cent in the same period last fiscal. The eight core sectors contribute 40.27 per cent to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) which measures overall industrial growth.