The output of eight key infrastructure sectors improved a tad to 3.8 per cent in March against 3.4 per cent of February, the government reported on Monday. However, it is lower than 6.3 per cent of March, 2024.

In March, production of crude oil and natural gas recorded a negative growth. The production growth of coal, refinery products, steel and electricity moderated to 1.6 per cent, 0.2 per cent, 7.1 per cent, and 6.2 per cent, respectively. Fertilizer production rose 8.8 per cent in March 2025 against 1.3 per cent contraction in the same month last year. Cement production growth rose to 11.6 per cent in March 2025 from 10.6 per cent in the year-ago month.

The Index of eight Core Industries (ICI) is the measure of combined and individual performance of production of eight core industries: coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity. Its growth was 4.4 per cent during April-March 2024-25 fiscal. It was 7.6 per cent in the same period last fiscal. The eight core industries comprise 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist at ICRA noted the rise in core sector performance was primarily by the higher growth in electricity generation amid rising temperatures. In disaggregated terms, the sequential trend was quite mixed, with fertilizers, coal, natural gas and refinery products reporting a moderation in their y-o-y growth in March 2025 relative to the previous month. “Based on the expansion in the core sector, ICRA expects the IIP growth to print at 3.0-3.5 per cent in March 2025,” she said.

Published on April 21, 2025