India’s core sector growth rises to four-month high of 4.3% in November

Core sector growth for November

India’s core sector growth rose to a four-month high of 4.3 percent in November as compared to 3.7 percent in October, with four of the eight sectors exhibiting better performance than the previous month, according to data released on December 31.

November marks the third consecutive month of expansion owing to a favourable base. The index of eight core industries represent India’s infrastructure output and have a 40 percent weight in the industrial production index.

Industrial production had increased to a three-month high of 3.5 percent in October, helped by the festive season push.

Coal steady, electricity, cement rise 

Six of the eight sectors recorded an expansion in November, with cement, fertilisers  and electricity sectors doing better even as coal held steady.

The cement industry expanded at the fastest pace in 13 months of 13 percent, rising from 3.1 percent growth in the previous month, while coal sector held steady with 7.5 percent growth down from 7.8 percent in the previous month.

Sequentially, coal was the one of the two sectors besides petroleum to record growth.

Coal sector expanded 7.3 percent over the previous month, as overall sector contracted by 3.3 percent in sequential terms.

Electricity growth picked up to 3.8 percent from 2 percent in the previous month, while fertiliser growth was 2 percent from 0.4 percent in October.

Crude oil and natural gas continued to witness contraction, even as pace softened for crude oil industry.

The expansion in core industries bodes well for the economy, which witnessed a growth slowdown to a seven-quarter low of 5.4 percent. This prompted the RBI and economists to lower their GDP forecast for the year.

According to the RBI estimate, the Indian economy is now expected to expand 6.6 percent in FY25, compared with the 7.2 percent projected earlier.