India's core sector output moves up to touch 12.1 pc in August

The combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) increased by 12.1 per cent (provisional) in August 2023 as compared to the Index of August 2022," an official release said.

The production of all eight core industries namely cement, coal, crude, electricity, fertilizers, natural gas, refinery products and steel recorded positive growth in August 2023 over the corresponding month of last year.

The eight core industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

As per official data, cement production increased by 18.9% in August, 2023 over August, 2022. In the same period, coal and crude oil production grew 18% and 2.1% year-on-year respectively.

Electricity generation increased by 14.9% in August, 2023 over August, 2022.

"Fertilizer production (weight: 2.63 per cent) increased by 1.8 per cent in August, 2023 over August, 2022," the official release said.

Natural gas, petroleum refinery products and steel production grew 10%, 9.5% and 10.9% year-on-year respectively in August 2023.

"A truant monsoon helped to push up core sector growth to a robust 12.1% in August 2023, boosted by double-digit expansion in five of the eight components, except fertilisers, crude oil and refinery products, with the latter nonetheless recording a robust 9.5% increase," said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA.

She added, "Given the uptick in the core sector growth, as well as healthy performance of high frequency indicators such as auto output, GST e-way bills, rail freight etc., we forecast the IIP to expand by 9-11% in the month of August 2023."

(With UNI inputs)