Core sector growth at 30-month high of 7.9% in Sep as coal output rebounds | Industry News

Output growth in India’s nine core industries rose to a 30-month high of 7.9 per cent in September, the highest level under the new series with 2022-23 as the base year, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.

 

A sharp rebound in coal, a jump in iron ore and record growth in refinery products lifted the headline figure from an upwardly revised 5.9 per cent in August. Additionally, all nine sectors witnessed an improvement in their performance in September compared to the previous month.

 

Core output had grown just 3.1 per cent in September 2025. On a month-on-month basis, the overall index fell to a five-month low of 118.3 from 120.4 in August, a sequential decline of 1.74 per cent, even as year-on-year growth jumped.

  

Six of the nine sectors grew during the month, compared with five in August’s provisional data. Iron ore, electricity, coal, refinery products, cement and steel remained in expansion, while fertilisers, natural gas and crude oil contracted.

 

Iron ore, which carries a weight of 4.9 per cent, overtook electricity as the fastest-growing sector. Its growth more than tripled to 18.4 per cent from 5.5 per cent in August.

 

Electricity, the heaviest component of the index at 30.9 per cent, grew 11.4 per cent, easing from an upwardly revised 13.1 per cent in August. Coal, weighted at 5.6 per cent, returned to growth of 10.7 per cent from a 3.8 per cent contraction in August. That was its fastest growth in 13 months.

 

Growth in refinery products, the second-heaviest component at 22.6 per cent, rose to a 30-month high of 10.3 per cent from 5.6 per cent in August, the strongest reading under the new series.

 

Cement growth slowed to a four-month low of 9.8 per cent from 11.7 per cent in August. Steel growth picked up to a three-month high of 4.9 per cent in September from 3.5 per cent in the preceding month.

 

On the other hand, fertilisers fell 11.7 per cent, a slight easing from August’s 12.4 per cent drop. It was the seventh straight month of contraction.

 

Natural gas output shrank 4.6 per cent after a 4.9 per cent fall in August, extending its run of contraction to 27 consecutive months. The contraction in crude oil output narrowed to 1.4 per cent from 3.6 per cent, its smallest decline in 11 months.

 

This was the fourth reading under the new series, which replaced the earlier 2011-12 base and expanded the basket to nine sectors from eight with the addition of iron ore. Cumulatively, the index grew 5.1 per cent during April-September, compared with the 2.5 per cent recorded in the same period a year earlier.

 

The core sectors account for about 40 per cent of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). IIP growth was 8 per cent in August.