India's eight core sectors recorded a cumulative degrowth of 0.4% year-on-year in March, after growth slowed to 2.3% in February, showed the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday. This is the lowest growth reported in 19 months.
Its cumulative growth rate was at 2.6% during April to March, 2025-26 over corresponding period of the previous year.
The decline comes amid a slump in crude oil output, which fell by 5.7% year-on-year. Cement output on the other hand rose by 4% year-on-year, however in the preceding month, the growth stood at 9.3%, indicating a slight slump in construction activity.
Steel production remined consistent as it grew by 2.2% in March after a 7.2% climb in January. However, there was a slump indicating a decline in production. The coal sector witnessed an downtick of 4%, after a 2.3% jump in the previous month.
Fertiliser output decreased by 24.6% in March, after 3.4% growth in February.
The output of petroleum refinery products, which hold the most weightage in the index of eight core industries, increased by 0.1% after posting a 1% decline in the previous month.
The eight core industries constitute about 40% of India's Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
The IIP growth during the month of February grew at 5.2%, on the back of accelerated manufacturing output, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation.
The manufacturing output grew by 6% during the month, as against a 5.3% in January. The climb helped in offsetting the decline in power generation, which fell to 2.3% from 5.1% in January.
The mining output, which is also crucial to determine India's pace of industrial production, grew by 3.1% in February as against 4.3% in the previous month.
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