India’s infrastructure industries expanded at their fastest pace in over a year, with core sector growth touching 6.3 percent in August, provisional data released by the commerce ministry showed on September 22.
The latest reading is sharply higher than July’s 3.7 percent, marking the strongest print since May 2024.
The pickup was led by coal, steel and cement, even as crude oil and natural gas continued to underperform. Coal output rose 11.4 percent on-year, reversing a run of declines, while steel and cement grew 14.2 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively. Fertilisers too posted a modest 4.6 percent gain.
In contrast, crude oil (-1.2 percent), natural gas (-2.2 percent) and refinery products (3 percent) dragged the index of eight core industries that gauge the combined industrial production. Electricity generation grew 3.1 percent in August, easing from July’s stronger momentum.
The overall print is significant for the core sector growth, as it makes up nearly 40 percent of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). India's core sector growth had slipped to just 1.2 percent in May, before gradually recovering over the summer.
For April-August FY26, the core sector growth averaged around 2.8 percent, compared with 4.6 percent in the same period a year earlier.
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