India's infrastructure output growth quickens to 12.1 per cent in October

India's eight key infrastructure sectors exhibited a growth of 12.1 per cent on an annual basis in October after growing at 9.2 per cent in September, according to the official data released on Thursday. These sectors had grown at a muted rate of 0.7 per cent in the same month a year ago.

The Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) assesses the collective and individual production performance of eight key sectors, namely cement, coal, crude oil, electricity, fertilizers, natural gas, refinery products, and steel.

All these sectors registered positive growth in October 2023 over the corresponding month last year, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement.

Coal, steel, cement and electricity production recorded double-digit growth.

"The YoY growth in the core sector expectedly rebounded to double digits in October 2023, aided by the low base owing to higher number of holidays in the year ago month amid the earlier onset of the festive season in 2022 vis-à-vis 2023. As many as four of the eight core industries witnessed double-digit growth in October 2023, including electricity, coal, cement and steel," said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, Head Research and Outreach, ICRA Ltd.

"This shift in the festive calendar obfuscates YoY comparisons in October and November, thereby making it more meaningful to look at the average YoY growth performance for these months," she said.

The output growth of eight sectors was at 8.6 per cent in April-October 2023-24 against 8.4 per cent in the year-ago period.

Infrastructure output, consisting of eight sectors such as coal and electricity, contributes to around 40.27 per cent of industrial production which is measured by the Index of Industrial Production.