<p>New Delhi: India’s core infrastructure output growth jumped to a four-month high of 3.7% in December, driven by good performance of steel, cement and electricity sectors, even as oil and gas segments continued to drag, official data showed on Tuesday.</p>.<p>The eight core industries that include coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity, had posted a growth of 2.1% in November. In December 2024, it stood at 5.1%.</p>.<p>These eight core sectors together account for about 40% of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).</p>.<p>On a cumulative basis, core sector output registered a growth of 2.6% during April-December 2025, compared with the corresponding period of the previous year.</p>.Realtors demand tax incentives to boost affordable housing.<p>Cement production surged 13.5% in December, while steel output rose 6.9%, underpinning resilience in construction and infrastructure-linked demand. Electricity generation increased by 5.3%, and fertiliser output grew by 4.1% during the month, data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry showed.</p>.<p>The uptick was not broad-based, and was largely driven by electricity generation, which rose by 5.3% in the month, after contracting in each of the last two months.</p>.<p>Five of the eight sectors, barring coal and steel, apart from electricity, witnessed a deterioration in their year-on-year growth rates in December, as compared to the previous month.</p>.<p>Coal production rose by 3.6% in December, although its cumulative output for April-December remained 0.7% lower when compared with the last year.</p>.<p>“Notably, while growth in cement output decelerated in December 2025 compared to November 2025, it remained in double digits, which along with the healthy growth in steel output suggests that construction activity likely remained robust in the month,” said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA.</p>.<p>As per ICRA, the IIP growth is likely to ease to 4.5-5.0% in December 2025, from 6.7% in November 2025, with the sharp turnaround in the performance of the electricity sector offsetting the likely slowdown in the manufacturing segment.</p>
<p>New Delhi: India’s core infrastructure output growth jumped to a four-month high of 3.7% in December, driven by good performance of steel, cement and electricity sectors, even as oil and gas segments continued to drag, official data showed on Tuesday.</p>.<p>The eight core industries that include coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity, had posted a growth of 2.1% in November. In December 2024, it stood at 5.1%.</p>.<p>These eight core sectors together account for about 40% of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).</p>.<p>On a cumulative basis, core sector output registered a growth of 2.6% during April-December 2025, compared with the corresponding period of the previous year.</p>.Realtors demand tax incentives to boost affordable housing.<p>Cement production surged 13.5% in December, while steel output rose 6.9%, underpinning resilience in construction and infrastructure-linked demand. Electricity generation increased by 5.3%, and fertiliser output grew by 4.1% during the month, data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry showed.</p>.<p>The uptick was not broad-based, and was largely driven by electricity generation, which rose by 5.3% in the month, after contracting in each of the last two months.</p>.<p>Five of the eight sectors, barring coal and steel, apart from electricity, witnessed a deterioration in their year-on-year growth rates in December, as compared to the previous month.</p>.<p>Coal production rose by 3.6% in December, although its cumulative output for April-December remained 0.7% lower when compared with the last year.</p>.<p>“Notably, while growth in cement output decelerated in December 2025 compared to November 2025, it remained in double digits, which along with the healthy growth in steel output suggests that construction activity likely remained robust in the month,” said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA.</p>.<p>As per ICRA, the IIP growth is likely to ease to 4.5-5.0% in December 2025, from 6.7% in November 2025, with the sharp turnaround in the performance of the electricity sector offsetting the likely slowdown in the manufacturing segment.</p>