The Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI), a crucial gauge of the performance of key infrastructure sectors in the Indian economy, rose marginally by 0.7% year-on-year in May 2025, according to provisional data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. This modest uptick highlights continuing challenges in several critical sectors despite gains in a few industries.
The eight industries that comprise the index — Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Petroleum Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement, and Electricity — collectively account for 40.27% of the overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP). In May, positive growth was reported in Cement, Steel, Coal, and Refinery Products, while the remaining sectors recorded year-on-year contractions.
Coal production, which holds a weight of 10.33% in the index, increased by 2.8% compared to the same month last year. On a cumulative basis, production during April–May 2025-26 rose by 3.1%. However, the crude oil sector, with a weight of 8.98%, contracted by 1.8% in May and by 2.2% over the two-month period.
Natural gas output witnessed a sharper year-on-year fall of 3.6% in May, contributing to a cumulative decline of 2.3%. Meanwhile, petroleum refinery products — the largest component of the index with a weight of 28.04% — posted a modest 1.1% increase in May. Despite this, cumulative output during the April–May period dropped by 1.7%.
The fertilizer sector reported the steepest decline, shrinking by 5.9% in May and registering a cumulative decrease of 5.1%. In contrast, the steel industry, which holds significant weight at 17.92%, saw a healthy 6.7% rise in output in May and a 5.5% increase over the two-month period.
Cement production delivered the strongest performance among all eight industries, recording a robust 9.2% growth in May. Its cumulative output also showed significant momentum, rising by 7.8%. However, electricity generation, a major sector with a 19.85% weight, fell sharply by 5.8% in May and declined by 2.2% cumulatively — contributing to an overall drag on the index.
