Datanomics: Three key industries fare poorly in new core sector series

India's core sector output grew 7.9% in September, but crude oil, natural gas and fertilisers continued to lag, with all three recording negative Y-o-Y growth in the first half of FY27.

The overall core sector output clocked a new 2022-23 series record growth of 7.9 per cent in September. However, the headline number masked the dismal performance of three crucial segments of the economy — crude oil, natural gas, and fertiliser — in the month. The output of each of these three industries was below the base year of 2022-23. Crude oil production was below the base year in all of the first six months of the current financial year of 2026-27 (FY27), and natural gas output outperf­ormed the base year’s production in only one of those six months. Fertilisers performed better, achieving this in four months. The year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth story is worse. None of the three segments surpassed their respective year-ago performances in any of the first six months of FY27. The cumulative output since 2023-24 is equally dismal for crude oil. Natural gas and fertilisers joined crude oil in performing poorly during the first six months of FY27.