Core sector growth slows to 0.5% in April 2025 amid slump in oil, refinery sectors

The output of eight key infrastructure industries slowed sharply to 0.5% in April 2025 against 6.9% in the same month last year, official data showed on Tuesday, indicating subdued momentum in the country's industrial activity.

The previous low growth rate was recorded in August 2024, when these sectors expanded by (-) 1.5%.

The modest uptick was driven by higher production in sectors such as cement, coal, steel, electricity and natural gas, while crude oil, refinery products and fertilisers saw a contraction in output.

The Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI), which accounts for 40.27% of the weight of items in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), measures the performance of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity.

Among the individual sectors, cement posted the highest growth of 6.7%, followed by coal (3.5%), steel (3.0%), electricity (1.0%) and natural gas (0.4%). On the other hand, output of petroleum refinery products fell 4.5%, fertilisers declined by 4.2% and crude oil dropped by 2.8% during the month.

The cumulative growth of the core industries during the financial year 2024-25 (April to March) stood at 4.5% (provisional), the data showed, down from 7.6% in the previous fiscal.

The April figures come on the back of a modest improvement in March 2025, when core sector growth stood at 3.8%, slightly higher than the 3.4% recorded in February, but well below the 6.3% seen in March 2024.

The final growth rate for January 2025 was revised upwards to 5.1%, the ministry added.