According to government data released on Wednesday, January 21, 2025, India's eight infrastructure industries, designated as "core industries", recorded growth of 3.7 percent in December 2025, a four-month peak and an improvement from 2.7 percent in November 2025.
The eight core industries are coal, crude oil, natural gas, food refining, fertilizers, steel, cement and power.
Notably, five of the eight sectors - coal, fertilizers, steel, cement and power - posted positive growth during the month.
Collectively, core sector output rose 2.6 percent in the April-December period of FY 2025-26 compared with the corresponding period a year earlier, reflecting ongoing pressure from weak performance in the oil and gas segments.
At a disaggregated level, cement production rose 13.5 percent in December and steel production rose 6.9 percent, supporting robust construction and infrastructure-related demand, the government said in a statement. Power production increased 5.3 percent and fertilizer production rose 4.1 percent during the month, while coal production rose down 3.6 percent year-on-year.
Crude oil oil production fell 5.6 percent year-on-year in December, and natural gas production fell 4.4 percent. Production of refined petroleum products for the month decreased by 1.0 percent year on year
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