The Business Bytes
THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU
NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 3, 2025
The coal sector has achieved the highest growth among the eight core industries, recording a 5.3% increase in December 2024, reaching 215.1 points compared to 204.3 points in December 2023. This surge reflects the sector’s pivotal role in driving industrial growth, according to the Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
For the period from April to December 2024, the coal industry’s index saw a notable rise of 6.2%, from 167.2 points in the same period of the previous year to 177.6 points. This marks the strongest growth across all eight core sectors, further highlighting coal’s contribution to the nation’s industrial expansion.
The ICI tracks the performance of key sectors—cement, coal, crude oil, electricity, fertilizers, natural gas, refinery products, and steel. The combined index for all eight core industries showed a 4.0% growth in December 2024 compared to the previous year. For the first nine months of fiscal year 2024-25, the combined index grew by 4.2%, with the coal sector emerging as a key driver of this upward trend.
The growth is primarily attributed to a sharp increase in coal production, which reached 726.31 million tonnes (MT) from April to December 2024, up from 684.47 MT during the same period in 2023. This significant production spike underscores the sector’s capability to meet the rising demands of the energy and manufacturing sectors, reinforcing its critical importance in the country’s industrial landscape.
