The output of the eight core industries hints at tentative signs that the pandemic-hit economic contraction may have begun to bottom out. The government’s provisional figures show that while overall production at the infrastructure industries extended their year-on-year decline to a fourth straight month in June, shrinking 15 per cent, the pace at which activity contracted slowed for a second consecutive month following April’s 37 per cent plunge. The sector-wise performance also affirms that the gradual reopening since June appears to have helped tease back some smattering of demand in the economy. Of the seven industries that extended their contractions, only coal shrank at a faster pace (-15.5 per cent) than in May, when production had dipped 14 per cent. Refinery products, the largest weight on the index contributing 28 per cent, shrank 8.9 per cent marking an improvement from the 21.3 per cent contraction seen the previous month. The lifting of restrictions on inter and intra-State movement of persons and goods revived both vehicular movement and, consequently, demand for auto fuels. With personal modes of mobility preferred given the fear of infection, petroproduct consumption grew 11 per cent month-on-month in June. With the IMD forecasting above average rainfall in August and September as well, the outlook for the agriculture-reliant rural economy is far more promising than for most other sectors. To be sure, the economy is still a fair distance from a sustained turnaround with other data flagging the risks to a recovery. The significant shortfalls in GST collection point to the difficulties the central and State governments are facing in garnering crucially needed revenue. This has already swelled the fiscal deficit at the end of the Q1 to 83 per cent of the full year’s target. With the new infections curve showing no signs of plateauing as yet, policymakers have the unenviable task of stemming the Covid-19 tide without dampening economic momentum.