Core sector growth slows to 4% in January, hits two-month low

Growth in India’s eight core infrastructure sectors slowed to a two-month low of 4 per cent in January, according to official data released on Friday, reflecting weakness across most key industries. The growth rate stood at 5.1 per cent in January 2025 and 4.7 per cent in December 2025, PTI reported.Crude oil and natural gas production recorded negative growth during the month, while output of refinery products remained flat, the data showed.Growth in coal and cement production also moderated to 3.1 per cent and 10.7 per cent, respectively, compared with 4.6 per cent and 14.3 per cent recorded in January 2025.However, fertiliser, steel and electricity output registered positive growth during the month under review.During the April–January period of the current fiscal year, core sector growth slowed to 2.8 per cent, lower than the 4.5 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.Commenting on the data, Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist at ICRA Ltd, said the slowdown was broad-based, with seven of the eight sectors witnessing deterioration in their year-on-year growth performance.“Given the trends in core output, IIP (Index of Industrial Production) growth is likely to slow down in January, although we expect the growth in the non-core part of the IIP to continue to outperform core industries' output, as was the trend in Q3 FY2026,” she said, PTI quoted.She added that ICRA expects IIP growth to ease to about 5.5 per cent in January 2026 from 7.8 per cent in December 2025, while still remaining higher than core sector growth for the month.