India's core sector output grew 5% year-on-year in June 2026, accelerating from 3.2% in May, driven by robust growth in iron ore, electricity and cement production, according to data released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on Monday.
The June data marks the first release of the revised Index of Core Industries (ICI) with the base year updated to 2022-23, replacing the earlier 2011-12 series. The revised index has expanded the number of core industries from eight to nine by including iron ore, reflecting its growing importance in industrial production.
The Index of Core Industries, which accounts for 40.27% of the weight of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), registered cumulative growth of 3.6% during April-June 2026, compared with 1% growth in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Among the nine sectors, iron ore recorded the sharpest growth of 43.9% in June, followed by electricity and cement at 9.8% each. Steel output rose 4.6%, while coal production increased 1.4%.
On the other hand, natural gas (-7.4%), refinery products (-4.7%), crude oil (-4.2%) and fertilisers (-3.3%) contracted during the month.
According to the DPIIT, iron ore and electricity have emerged as the major contributors to overall core sector growth in recent months.
The revised series introduces several methodological changes. Iron ore has been included as a separate core industry owing to its extensive use in industrial production. The steel index will now be compiled using gross production data instead of net production data to align it with the revised Index of Industrial Production methodology.
The government has also retained only raw coal in the index, excluding coal middlings and washed coal to avoid double counting, as both are derived from raw coal.
The weights assigned to the nine sectors in the new series are-- electricity (30.93%), refinery products (22.57%), steel (17.58%), crude oil (7.43%), coal (5.60%), iron ore (4.91%), cement (4.41% per), natural gas (3.84%) and fertilisers (2.73%).