Core sector output growth at a 20-month low of 4% in June

Core sector industrial production in India, based on the Index of core industries (ICI), expanded by 4 per cent year-on-year in June 2024, the lowest in 20 months, due to a slowdown in output across sectors such as electricity, steel and natural gas and a contraction in output of crude and refinery products.

The lower growth can be attributed to a slowdown in activities in sectors like electricity, steel and natural gas, with the output of crude and refinery products contracting during the month.

The eight core sector industries , viz, cement, coal, crude oil, electricity, fertilizers, natural gas, refinery products and steel, which account for 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), recorded a cumulative growth rate of 5.7 per cent during April-June 2024-25, provisional figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed.

The final rate of growth in output of the eight core industries for March 2024 stands revised to 6.3 per cent, on the basis of revised data.

Prodction of cement, which has a weight of 5.37 per cent in the general index IIP) increased by 1.9 per cent in June 2024 while the cumulative index increased by 0.3 per cent during April-June 2024-25 over.

Production of coal (weight of 10.33 per cent in IIP) increased by 14.8 per cent in June 2024 while cumulative production increased by 10.8 per cent during April-June 2024-25.

Production of crude oil (weight of 8.98 per cent in IIP) declined by 2.6 per cent in June 2024 while cumulative production of crude oil declined by 0.7 per cent during April-June 2024-25.

Electricity generation (weight of 19.85 per cent in IIP) increased by 7.7 per cent in June 2024 while cumulative generation of elecricity increased by 10.5 per cent during April-June 2024-25.

Fertiliser production (weight of 2.63 per cent in IIP) increased by 2.4 per cent in June 2024 over while cumulative production of fertilisers remained constant during April-June 2024-25.

Production of natural gas (weight of 6.88 per cent in IIP) increased by 3.3 per cent in June 2024 while cumulative production of natural gas increased by 6.4 per cent during April-June 2024-25.

Petroleum refinery production (weight of 28.04 per cent in IIP)  declined by 1.5 per cent in June 2024 while cumulative refinery throughput increased by 0.9 per cent during April-June 2024-25.

Steel production (weight of 17.92 per cent in IIP) increased by 2.7 per cent in June 2024 while cumulative production of steel  increased by 6.1 per cent during April-June 2024-25.