Economic activity in India’s core industrial sectors saw growth slow to 5.4% in July 2026 from 6% in June, according to official data released on Thursday (August 20, 2026). This was driven by a significant slowdown in the fertilisers, iron ore, and steel sectors, accompanied by a continued contraction in the natural gas and crude oil sectors. 

The data on the Index of Core Industries (ICE) released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, however, showed that July’s growth was still the second-fastest in seven months. The Ministry released a new series of the ICE in July, which means that a historical comparison is possible only up to June 2025.  

Within the index, the fertilisers sector contracted 8% in July 2026, as compared to a contraction of 3.3% in June. The sector had grown 1.9% in July of last year. This performance is likely due to the deficient and patchy ongoing monsoon, and the resultant lower levels of sowing taking place. 

The iron ore sector saw growth slowing to 29.5% in July 2026, from 44.5% in June. However, it is important to point out that these relatively high growth levels are on a low base, since the sector contracted 16.4% and 7.1% in June and July of last year, respectively. 

This low base effect was also apparent in the coal sector’s 11-month high growth rate of 7.6% in July 2026. The sector had contracted 12.3% in July last year. 

Growth in the steel sector slowed to 2.9% in July 2026, the lowest in the 14 months for which there is data, down from 5.6% in June. 

The natural gas and crude oil sectors continued their long streak of contractions. The natural gas sector contracted 3.7% in July 2026, while the crude oil sector contracted 5.3%. Both sectors have contracted continuously for the last 14 months for which there is data. 

The refinery products sector, however, snapped a three-month streak of contractions by growing 2.7% in July 2026, the sector’s best performance in nine months. 

The two relative bright spots among the core sectors were the cement and electricity sectors. The electricity sector grew 9% in July 2026, albeit slower than the 11.4% seen in June. The cement sector saw growth hit 13.1% in July 2026, a seven-month high, over a 11.1% growth in July last year. 

Growth in activity in the eight core sectors of the economy quickened marginally to 1.7% in April 2026, up from 1.2% in the previous month, official data released on Wednesday (May 20, 2026) showed.

Notably, the data on the Index of Eight Core Industries released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry also saw a significant revision of the growth rate for March 2026 — now coming in at 1.2% compared to the preliminary contraction of 0.4% that had originally been reported for the month. 

The domestic crude oil sector contracted 3.9% in April 2026, marking the eighth consecutive month of contraction for the sector. The natural gas sector, too, again slumped into a contraction of 4.3% in April after having briefly come back into positive territory in March due to the energy crisis brought on by the war in West Asia. 

Prior to March, the natural gas sector had contracted for 20 consecutive months. 

As a likely consequence of this contraction in domestic natural gas production and rising prices of gas imports, the fertiliser sector contracted 8.6% in April 2026. This was albeit a much better performance than the contraction of nearly 25% in March. 

The refinery products also fell back into a contraction in April 2026, of 0.5%, compared to a growth of 0.1% in March. Notably, the contraction in April 2026 is over a contraction of 4.5% in April of last year. 

In a signal that construction activity might again be picking up, the steel and cement sectors saw relatively robust growth in April 2026. The steel sector saw growth come in at 6.2% in April 2026, as compared to a newly revised growth of 7.7% in March. The preliminary March growth figure for the sector was 2.2%. 

Similarly, the cement sector saw growth quicken to a three-month high of 9.4% in April 2026. Here, too, the growth rate for March was revised upwards to 4.7% from the original 4%. 

The electricity sector grew at a three-month high of 4.1% in April 2026, up from the revised growth of 0.8% in March. The preliminary figure for March had reported a contraction of 0.5% for the sector. 

Coal output contracted 8.7% in April 2026, the second consecutive month of contraction.