According to official data issued on November 30, the combined production of eight core industries increased by 7.5 percent in October compared to the year-ago period.
Apart from year-on-year growth, the cumulative production increased sequentially in September 2021, with the main industries growing by 4.4 percent.
“The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stood at 136.2 in October 2021, which increased by 7.5 per cent (provisional) as compared to the Index of October 2020,” the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in an official release.
“The production of coal, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity industries increased in October 2021 over the corresponding period of last year,” it added.
The already mentioned industries plus crude oil make the eight core industries, reflecting 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
Natural gas production recorded the highest growth as it increased by 25.8 percent YOY. Its cumulative index surged by 22.6 per cent during April-October 2021 over the year-ago period.
Coal production saw an increase of 14.6 percent as YOY, with its cumulative index jumping by 12.2 percent during April-October 2021 corresponding to the same period of previous year.
Petroleum refine production saw a rise of 14.4 percent in October, and its cumulative index rose by 11.7 percent during April-October 2021.
Cement production saw a rise of 14.5 percent in October, electricity increased by 2.8 percent, fertiliser production inched up by 0.04 percent, whereas steel improved by 0.9 percent, if we talk about other core industries.
Crude oil output fell by 2.2 percent last month, making it the only core industry to see a fall. In comparison to the same six-month period previous year, its cumulative index fell by 2.8 percent from April to October 2021.
“In YoY terms, the pace of growth varied widely across the eight core sectors, with cement, coal, natural gas and petroleum refinery products displaying a double-digit expansion, whereas the rise in electricity, steel and fertilisers was sub-3 percent and crude oil output contracted,” said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA.
“With a mixed trend displayed by most early indicators that are available for November 2021, we expect the core sector growth to slip to under 5% for this month,” Nayar added.