Core Sector

November's 1.8% uptick follows 1st contraction in 15 mths; infra demand revs up steel, cement

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that cement, steel, fertilisers and coal registered positive growth, while crude oil, natural gas, refinery products and electricity recorded declines

Energy-sector contractions wiped out gains in construction-linked industries, leaving overall output unchanged from last year

Core sector growth eased to a 3-month low in September as output in coal, crude oil, refinery, and gas declined, even as steel demand stayed robust

The core sectors' output growth was 3.7 per cent in the previous month of July. It was (-) 1.5 per cent in August last year

For the first four months (April - July) of the current financial year, growth stood at 1.6 per cent against 6.3 per cent last year. In July 2024, the Index of Core Industries (ICI) had risen 6.3 per

Aditi Nayar, chief economist at Icra, said that while an elevated base weighed upon coal output, excess rains in the latter half of June impacted electricity generation

In March 2024, core sector growth had stood at 6.3 per cent

Driven by deceleration in output of coal, refinery products, and cement

In February 2024, the core sector growth had stood at 7.1 per cent

For the first two months of this financial year, growth in the output of the core industries stood at 6.5%

The eight sectors-coal, steel, cement, fertilisers, electricity, natural gas, refinery products, and crude oil-comprise two-fifths of India's total industrial production

In March 2023, the core sector had recorded a growth of 4.2 per cent

The eight core industries account for 40.27 per cent of weighting of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Thus, they have a significant impact on the index

Coal output grew by 10.2 per cent, the only sector to retain a double-digit growth in January, compared to 10.7 per cent previously

In August last year, the core sector had grown by 4.2 per cent

In June last year, the core sector had grown by 13.1 per cent. The print for May 2023 has undergone a significant revision to 5 per cent from 4.3 per cent estimated earlier

The output of crude oil declined by 2.8 per cent, power by 1.8 per cent and cement by 0.8 per cent in March this year

Six of eight key infrastructure industries report sequential deceleration

Lower base, expansion in output of seven of eight industries attributed