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Key infra sectors' growth slows to eight-month low of 0.5% in AprilIn March, output of these sectors grew by 4.6 per cent.
Gyanendra Keshri
Last Updated IST
<div class="paragraphs"><p>Representative image.   </p></div>

Representative image.

Credit: iStock Photo

New Delhi: Output growth of eight core infrastructure sectors that include cement, steel, coal and electricity, dipped to an eight-month low of 0.5 per cent in April from the upwardly revised 4.6 per cent expansion recorded in March, as per official data released on Tuesday.

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On a year-on-year basis, the production of cement, coal, steel, electricity and natural gas recorded positive growth in April, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed.

However, only two out of the eight sectors posted sequential rise in production. “The deceleration was broad-based, led by six of the eight sectors barring coal and natural gas,” said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist at ICRA Ltd.

Paras Jasrai, Associate Director at India Ratings and Research, said the output in core sectors were impacted in April due to the US tariff policies.

The output of refinery products dropped 4.5 per cent y-o-y after a gap of seven months and was the sharpest since November 2022 possibly due to the decline in global commodity prices, which made imports more remunerative.

Fertilisers production dipped by 4.2 per cent year-on-year in April, the worst performance in 14 months. The output growth of steel and electricity sectors slowed to 3 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.

However, growth in coal and cement helped in keeping the overall core sector in the positive. Cement output grew by 6.7 per cent year-on-year, possibly due to government capex push, said Jasrai.

Coal output growth improved to a three-month high of 3.5 per cent in April from 1.6 per cent in the previous month.

The core sector has a weight of 40.27 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

“Based on the tepid rise in the core sector and the performance of the other available high frequency indicators, ICRA expects the IIP growth to moderate sharply to 1 per cent in April,” said Nayar. “The healthy growth in non-oil exports may provide an upside, unless the same represents round-tripping of some imports,” she added.

Jasrai said the IIP growth is likely to be in the range of 1-2 per cent in April. In March the IIP growth stood at 3 per cent, as per the latest official data. The National Statistics Office (NSO) is scheduled to release April IIP data on 28th of this month.

The cumulative growth rate of the Index of Eight Core Industries in the 12 months of the 2024-25 financial year stood at 4.5 per cent.

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(Published 20 May 2025, 18:32 IST)