Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

The various Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes active in India have resulted in actual investment of over ₹1.88 lakh crore as of June 2025, the ministry said. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The various Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes active in India have resulted in actual investment of over ₹1.88 lakh crore as of June 2025, the ministry said. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo used for representation purpose only.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Output in India’s eight core infrastructure sectors that constitute about 40% of overall industrial production, grew at a four-month high pace of 4.3% in November, led by a 13% surge in cement, marking the sharpest rise in the key construction input’s production in well over a year.

On a sequential basis, however, the Index of Core Industries (ICI) was down 3.3% from October levels to 156.8, with six of eight sectors recording a decline in production. Refinery products and coal were the only segments to see a rise in absolute output levels, hitting a four-month and eight-month high, respectively.

The Commerce and Industry Ministry also revised upwards October’s growth number for core sectors from 3.1% estimated earlier, to 3.7%. On a year-on-year basis, crude oil (-2.1%) and natural gas (-1.9%) output remained in contractionary territory for the seventh and fifth month, respectively. However, the extent of contraction was at a six-month low for crude oil, and a three-month high for natural gas.

Electricity generation rose 3.8% from last November levels, but was a sharp 12.9% below October’s levels, and in fact, marked the weakest output recorded since December 2023. Steel output was up 4.8% from a year ago, but was 4.7% under October’s levels. Fertilisers’ output expanded 2% year-on-year, while refinery products were up 2.9% and coal production rose 7.5%.

Despite the double-digit growth in November, cement output was actually 5.5% lower than October and stood at a four-month low.

Photo used for illustration purpose only.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Output in India’s eight core infrastructure sectors, that constitute a tad over 40% of industrial production, recovered to rise 3.1% in October, the best performance in three months in terms of growth as well as absolute output levels.

The Index of Core Industries (ICI) which had slumped to a 10-month low in September, recovered 3.9% on a sequential basis to a provisional number of 161.3 in October. The Commerce and Industry Ministry also revised upwards the core sectors’ growth in September to 2.4% from a previously estimated 2%. This was preceded by a 1.6% contraction in the index in August, the first such shrinkage in three and a half years.

Six of eight sectors recorded an uptick in October, led by coal which grew at a four-month high pace of 7.8%. Refinery products grew 5.2%, a tad slower than the 5.8% rise in September, while Steel grew at the fastest pace in three months at 4.2%.

Electricity generation grew 0.6% from last October, inching up from September’s 0.5% year-on-year growth. However, generation levels were the lowest in seven months in absolute terms.

However, barring electricity, the other seven core sectors recorded a sequential rise in their absolute output levels, with steel production at a seven-month high, and cement and coal at four-month peaks.

Cement production grew 3.3% in October, while fertilisers output rose a mere 0.4%, the slowest in five months.

Natural Gas production contracted year-on-year for the fourth straight month, declining 1.2% in October. Crude oil output also tanked for the sixth month in a row, with October recording the sharpest decline of 4.8% in this six-month streak.

According to a latest data, potato prices rose 78.7%, up from 78.1% in September, while onion inflation halved from 78.8% to 39.25% in October. File photo
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Inflation in India’s wholesale prices hardened from 1.84% in September to 2.4% in October, led by a well over two-year high spike in food prices to 11.6% from 9.5% in the previous month, as  per the data released on Thursday (November 14, 2024).

Also read:India’s middle class tightens its belt, squeezed by food inflation

Vegetable prices soared over 63%, compared with the 14-month peak inflation of about 49% recorded in September. Potato prices rose 78.7%, up from 78.1% in September, while onion inflation halved from 78.8% to 39.25% in October.

The Wholesale Food Index jumped 3% on a month-on-month basis. The Commerce and Industry Ministry attributed the rise in wholesale price inflation to an increase in prices of food articles, manufacture of food products, other manufacturing, manufacture of machinery & equipment, manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers & semi-trailers.

Inflation in manufactured products also picked up to 1.5% in October from 1% in the previous two months, while primary articles inflation more than tripled from August to touch 8.1%.

The decline in the inflation rate in June is primarily due to a fall in prices of mineral oils, food products
| Photo Credit: Reuters

India’s wholesale prices remained in deflationary territory for the third successive month in June, with the pace of price contraction from a year ago quickening to -4.12% from -3.48% in May.

This is the sharpest contraction in wholesale prices in about eight years, and was largely aided by the base effects from last June when wholesale price inflation was 16.2%, and some deceleration in commodity prices.

Some food items such as milk, cereals, pulses and wheat, reported high inflation rates in the range of 8%-9%. Vegetables reported 22% deflation year-on-year, but prices were up 13.2% in June, when compared to May.

While fuel and power inflation rate skidded to -12.6% in June from -9.2% in May, the dip in prices in other categories was milder, with the Food Index down just 1.2% compared to -1.6% in May. Sequentially, however, wholesale food prices were up 1.4% from May.

Deflation in primary articles’ prices moved to -2.9% from -1.8% in May, but their prices inched up 0.6% from May. Manufactured products’ prices fell 2.7% from last June and 0.5% from May 2023 levels.

The Commerce and Industry Ministry said the decline in the inflation rate in June is primarily due to a fall in prices of mineral oils, food products, basic metals, crude petroleum & natural gas and textiles. The ministry also revised upward the inflation rate for April 2023 to -0.79% from -0.90% estimated earlier.

Rating firm ICRA reckoned that the deflation in the WPI will ease to 2%-2.5% in July with global commodity prices seeing a sequential rise of 1.2% so far this month. The surge in prices of vegetables, with a “moderate hardening in cereals and pulses” due to supply disruptions amid excess rainfall, along with the lag in sowing of major crops and the onset of El Nino conditions impart uncertainty to the food inflation outlook, it noted.

“The moderation in food inflation in year-on-year terms masks the sequential price rise: The month-on-month increase in food prices was similar to that seen in retail inflation data for June,” said a research note by Barclays’ analysts, which said food prices surged across the board in June, except in the case of fruits and oilseeds.

The gap between retail inflation, which hit a three-month high of 4.8% in June, and wholesale inflation has now widened to 893 basis points, the highest since June 2022, and economists expect the deflation in wholesale prices to help moderate retail prices with a lag.

One basis point equals 0.01%.

Labourers loading wheat at APMC wholesale market outskirts of Ahmedabad on May 17, 2022. 
| Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji

The Centre has amended its wheat export ban order of May 13 to allow export consignments that were registered in the Customs Department’s systems and handed over for examination on or prior to May 13 to be shipped out, the Commerce and Industry Ministry said on Tuesday.

The government also allowed shipment of a wheat consignment headed for Egypt, which was already under loading at the Kandla port, following a request by the Egyptian Government. A bulk of the 61,500 metric tonne wheat consignment had already been loaded for shipping to Egypt. The Centre has now permitted the exporter to load the remaining 17,160 metric tonnes so that the full consignment can sail out from Kandla.

Reiterating the intent behind last week’s ban order, the ministry said the decision would ensure food security and rein in inflation, while maintaining India’s reliability as a supplier as it would help other countries facing food deficits. The order also aimed to provide a clear direction to the wheat market to prevent hoarding of wheat supplies, the ministry asserted.

The export curbs notified last week came within a couple of days of the ministry’s announcement that official delegations would travel to several countries to pitch Indian wheat exports.

The curbs would not apply in cases where prior commitments had been made by private trade through Letters of Credit as well as in situations where permission is granted by the Centre following requests made by the governments of other countries to meet their food security needs.