Core sector grows 7.4% in December on output surge in 5 key segments

Core sector growth in Nov stood at 5.4 percent (Representative image)

India's eight core industrial sectors grew by 7.4 percent in December 2022, as against a growth of 3.8 percent recorded in the year-ago period, as per the provisional data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on January 31.

The core sector growth is also higher as compared to the previous month, November 2022, when it stood at 5.4 percent.

A surge in the output of five segments - coal, steel, cement, fertiliser and electricity - aided the higher growth in December, data showed.

The production of coal increased by 11.5 percent on-year, electricity by 10 percent, steel by 9.2 percent, cement by 9.1 and fertiliser by 7.3 percent.

Among the remaining three core sectors, the output of crude oil segment declined by 1.2 percent, whereas, natural gas and petroleum refinery products recorded a relatively smaller growth of 2.6 and 3.7 percent, respectively.

The numbers would also have a bearing on the total index of industrial production (IIP), as the eight core sectors carry a 40.27 percent weightage in the overall numbers.

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For the nine-month period of April-December, the core sectors cumulatively grew by 8 percent, as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

The data has been released by the commerce ministry a day before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Union Budget for fiscal year 2023-24.

A positive growth in the core sectors, in November and December, reflects an uptick in the country's industrial production. In comparison, the output in the eight key sectors had declined by 0.1 percent in October.