India’s core sector grew 6.3% in May.

According to official data released on Friday (June 28), India’s eight key infrastructure sectors grew 6.3% in May, driven by strong growth in coal, natural gas and electricity production. This represents a slight slowdown compared to the 6.7% growth recorded in April.

On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, coal production rose 10.2% in May, down from 7.5% in April, while crude oil production fell 1.1%, in contrast to a 1.6% MoM increase. Natural gas production rose 7.5%, slightly slowing from 8.6% MoM.

Refined products rose moderately in May by 0.5%, down from 3.9% m/m, while fertilizer production fell by 1.7%, down from a 0.8% m/m decline.

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Steel production rose 7.6%, lower than the 8.8% month-on-month increase. Cement production declined slightly by 0.8%, compared to a 0.5% month-on-month decline. The most outstanding production was electricity production, which increased by 12.8% in May, compared to a 10.2% increase on a monthly basis.

On a year-on-year basis, the growth of these key sectors was significantly higher than the 5.2% recorded in May 2023. Fertilizer, crude oil and cement production recorded negative growth rates in May.

Despite these declines, overall production for April-May of the current fiscal year grew by 6.5%, exceeding the 4.9% growth recorded during the same period of the previous fiscal year.

The main sectors analyzed include coal, oil, natural gas, refined products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity. These eight major sectors together contribute 40.27% to the Indian Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

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