India’s core sectors grow 1.8% in November

India’s eight core infrastructure sectors recorded a growth of 1.8% in November 2025 compared with the year-ago period, supported by higher production of cement, steel, fertilisers and coal, official data released on Monday showed.The combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI), which tracks coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity, accounts for 40.27% of the weight of items in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).The final growth rate of the core sector for October 2025 stood at 0.1%, revised slightly upwards from the provisional 14-month-low. Cumulatively, core sector output expanded 2.4% during April–November 2025-26 over the corresponding period last year. <iframe src="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/dynamicchart?tab=INFOUT&year=10" width="100%" height="520" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" border="0"></iframe>Among individual sectors, coal production rose 2.1% in November, while cement output surged 14.5% and steel production increased 6.1% during the month. Fertiliser production also posted a healthy growth of 5.6% on a year-on-year basis.In contrast, crude oil production declined 3.2% in November, while natural gas output fell 2.5%. Petroleum refinery products recorded a marginal contraction of 0.9%, and electricity generation slipped 2.2% during the month.On a cumulative basis for April–November 2025-26, steel and cement remained the strongest performers, with growth of 9.7% and 8.2%, respectively. Fertiliser production rose 1.3%, while refinery products saw a modest increase of 0.2%.However, coal, crude oil, natural gas and electricity continued to lag, with cumulative declines of 1.4%, 1.3%, 3.0% and 0.3%, respectively, during the period under review.