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

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

The mining and quarrying sector grew 6% in August 2025, a 14-month high, snapping a four-month streak of contractions. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

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.

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

India’s industrial output shrank 0.1% in August, led by contractions of 4.3% and 3.7% in mining and electricity, even as manufacturing output grew a meagre 1%. The National Statistical Office said it is likely that the decline in the growth of Mining sector is due to heavy rainfall during the month.

In terms of absolute output levels, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) has hit a nine-month low of 145.6, marking a 2.5% drop in output from July, when the IIP had risen 4.7% as per updated data, compared to a 4.8% uptick estimated earlier.

Within manufacturing, 11 of 23 major segments recorded a decline in production compared to August 2023. Five segments recorded a double-digit growth — wearing apparel, electrical equipment, computers and electronics, wood and cork products, and furniture. However, significant base effects were responsible for these growth spikes as some of these segments had contracted sharply last year.

Motor vehicle production grew a mere 0.5%, while textiles and leather products rose by just about 2%.

Economists attributed a part of the contraction to broader base effects from August 2023, when industrial output grew 10.9%.

These base effects were also tangible in the trends for factory output categorised by end-use, with consumer non-durables and primary goods contracting 4.5% and 2.6%, respectively, on top of double-digit upticks last year.

Capital goods production rose 0.7% and infrastructure/construction goods saw a mere 1.9% uptick, vis-a-vis strong double-digit surges in August 2023.

Intermediate goods’ output rose 3%, while consumer durables clocked the strongest uptick among these six end-use segments of 5.2%, with August output recovering from a three-month low in July.

For consumer non-durables, this is the fourth straight month of contraction, and it is the only end-use segment to remain in the negative zone through the first five months of 2024-25, with cumulative production 2% below last year.

Overall industrial output has risen 4.2% between April and August this year, compared with a 6.2% growth in the same period of 2023-24, with manufacturing being the weakest link, having risen 3.6% so far this year, while electricity generation has accelerated by 7.1%.

Bank of Baroda chief economist Madan Sabnavis said growth rates may be better from September with a peak being achieved by October-end, which would be the post-harvest and festival season when spending typically increases.