Eight core industry sectors such as steel, cement, refinery products, coal and fertilisers have registered a growth of 2% in September compared to the figures in the same month last year, a statement from the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry has said. These sectors form an extremely significant part of the India’s economy.
What is extremely important is that these 8 industrial sectors constitute as much as 40.27% of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), one of the key metrics used to assess the state of India’s industrial health. It needs to be mentioned that the core sector represents the 8 important industries of the India economy.
Close look at the growth sectors
According to the data revealed by the government, cement production recorded the highest growth among the all the sectors, going up by 7.1% in September. Coal output went up by 2.6% in September 2024 and recorded a 5.9% growth rate between April and September, or H1 FY25. Incidentally, coal enjoys a weight of 10.33% in ICI (Index of 8 Core Industries). Refinery products, which has a weight of 28.04% in ICI, registered a rise by 5.8% in September.
Two other crucial sectors – steel and fertiliser – also recorded growths. Steel output rose by 1.5% in September compared to the same month last year. In the 6-month period between April and September (FY25), it went up by 6.1%. Fertiliser output increased 1.9%.
These sectors declined in September
A few critical sectors declined too. These were crude oil, electricity and natural gas. The output of crude oil climbed down 3.9% in September. From the perspective of H1 FY25, crude oil production decreased 2.1%. Natural Gas, too, suffered a decline of 1.3% in September, but taken on the 6-month scale in this financial year, it rose by 2%. Another sector where generation fell in September was electricity. Output crawled down by 0.5%. But electricity generation in H1 FY25 went up by 5.9%.
