India's combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) grew 1.8% in November 2025, as higher output in coal, steel, cement, and fertilizer offset continued weakness in oil, gas, and refinery products, official data showed.

The ICI tracks the country's eight core infrastructure sectors, including coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement, and electricity. It accounts for 40.27% of the weight of items in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Among individual sectors, coal production rose 2.1% in November, while cement output gained 14.5% and steel production increased 6.1% during the month. Fertilizer production also posted a growth of 5.6% year on year.

In contrast, crude oil production declined 3.2% in the month, while natural gas output fell 2.5%. Petroleum refinery products recorded a contraction of 0.9%, and electricity generation slipped 2.2%.

During the April-November period of the current fiscal year, the core sectors' output expanded by 2.4% year on year.

Steel and cement remained the strongest performers, with growth of 9.7% and 8.2%. Fertilizer production rose 1.3%, while refinery products saw a modest increase of 0.2%.

However, coal, crude oil, natural gas, and electricity continued to lag, with cumulative declines of 1.4%, 1.3%, 3.0% and 0.3%, respectively.