India's core sector growth slows down to 2.9% in Feb as against 4.6% in Jan

India's core sector growth slowed down to by 2.9 per cent in February as against 4.6 per cent in January 2025, official data released by the government showed on Friday.

The production of Cement, Fertilizers, Steel, Electricity, Coal and Refinery Products recorded positive growth in February, 2025.

Coal production saw a modest increase of 1.7% in February, a slowdown compared to the 4.6% growth recorded in January. In contrast, crude oil production witnessed a sharper decline, contracting by 5.2% in February, a significant drop from the 1.1% contraction seen in the previous month.

Natural Gas production declined by 6% last month as against (-)1.5% in January.

Petroleum refinery production growth slowed significantly to just 0.8% in February, a sharp decline from the 8.3% expansion recorded in January.

Fertilizer production increased by 10.2 per cent last month as against 3 per cent in the month before.

Steel production recorded a strong growth of 5.6% in February, improving from the 3% increase seen in January. Cement production and Electricity generation grew by 10.5% and 2.8% respectively.

The cumulative growth rate of ICI during April to February, 2024-25 is 4.4 per cent (provisional) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The ICI measures the combined and individual performance of production of eight core industries viz. Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity. The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).