Infrastructure Growth Slows Down

The growth of India's eight core infrastructure sectors decelerated to 4.3% in November 2024, a significant drop from 7.9% in the same month the previous year. Despite this slowdown, the monthly production growth reached a four-month high, showing a slight recovery from October's 3.7% expansion.

Sector-wise Performance

While crude oil and natural gas output contracted, other sectors experienced moderated growth. Coal production increased by 7.5%, refinery products by 2.9%, fertiliser by 2%, steel by 4.8%, and electricity by 3.8%. Cement production, however, stood out with a significant 13% surge during the month.

Long-term Outlook

For the April-November period of the fiscal year, core sector growth was recorded at 4.2%, a sharp decline from 8.7% in the same period last year. These sectors contribute 40.27% to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), a key indicator of overall industrial performance.

Expert Insight

Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA Ltd, highlighted the sequential improvement in November, attributing it to a sharp rise in cement production, boosted by a low base effect. She anticipates the IIP to grow by 5-7% in November 2024, partly benefiting from the uptick in core sector growth.