Core Sector Data

The core sector output contracted by 0.4 per cent in March, marking the first decline in five months as production of coal, crude oil, fertiliser, and electricity fell, according to official data released on Monday. In February 2026, the eight core infrastructure sectors had expanded by 2.8 per cent. In 2025-26, these sectors recorded a growth rate of 2.6 per cent as against 4.5 per cent in 2024-25.

However, core sector growth improved on a month-on-month basis in December, led by higher cement, steel, fertiliser and electricity output

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

In August 2024, ICI had declined to -1.3 per cent. For the first five months (April-August) of the current financial year, growth stood at 2.9 per cent against 4.72 per cent last year

Refinery products saw positive growth of 3.4 per cent. Similarly, the steel and cement sectors recorded growth of 9.3 per cent and 9.2 per cent, respectively

April growth slowed due to contraction in refinery and fertiliser output, high base effect; only coal and natural gas posted gains among eight core industries

Compared to July 2023, six sectors recorded a decline in output growth. The growth rate in coal (6.8 per cent) was the lowest in 13 months

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

Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda, said core sector growth in November showed steady growth and the slight moderation had been due to base effects

The growth rate of the index of eight core industries (ICI) during 2022-23 was 7.7% (provisional), the ministry said in a release

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

The output of core sectors had increased by 4% in January 2022 and by 7% in December 2022.

Data released by the industry department on Friday showed sequential acceleration in output growth in sectors like coal (12.3 per cent), steel (10.8 per cent), electricity (12.1 per cent)

The Reserve Bank of India last month also revised its growth forecast for FY23 to 7 per cent from 7.2 per cent estimated earlier

In June, the output of coal, refinery products, fertiliser, cement and electricity rose by 31.1%, 15.1%, 8.2%, 19.4%, and 15.5%, respectively

When compared to the same month a year ago, all sectors except crude oil (-2.2 per cent) and fertilisers (-1.4 per cent) registered robust growth

In October, core sectors' output had grown by 8.4%

The core sector grew 6.9 per cent, compared with the pre-Covid month of October 2019