The infrastructure sectors’ growth improved to 1.8% year-on-year in November as four of the eight components of the Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) recorded positive growth. The core sector growth had declined to 0.1% in October.
The output of coal, cement, steel and fertilisers marked expansion in November while refinery products, natural gas, crude oil and electricity contracted. In November 2024, the ICI had expanded 5.8%, constituting a rather strong base.
Max intersectoral growth
Within the sectors, cement saw maximum growth of 14.5% in November followed by steel (6.1%), fertilisers (5.6%) and coal (2.1%). The sectors that contracted were crude oil (-3.2%), natural gas (-2.5%), electricity (-2.2%) and refinery products (-0.9%).
Refinery products, electricity, steel and coal have maximum weight in the index. While refinery products and electricity contracted, coal and steel recorded positive growth in November.
The ICI measures the combined and individual performance of production of eight core industries, which comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
Which sectors led Y-Y growth?
The sequential improvement in year-on-year growth between October and November was led by a majority of the sectors, with a particularly sharp pickup in cement (to 14.5% from 5.2%), ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said.
“Given the base effects and shift in the festive calendar, it would be more prudent to assess the average for October and November 2025, which stands at a meagre 0.8%, lower than the average growth of 3.0% recorded in H1 FY2026. Based on the core sector growth and other high frequency indicators, we expect the IIP to rise by 3.5-4.5% in November 2025,” Nayar said.
The cumulative growth rate of ICI during April to November stands at 2.4% (provisional) as compared to 4.4% during the same period of last year.