Growth in eight key infrastructure sectors, as measured by the combined Index of Eight Core Industries, accelerated in December, supported by strong expansion in construction-linked segments and electricity, as per data released by the ministry of commerce on Tuesday.

Core sector grew 3.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) in December, up from the revised figure of 2.1% in November, marking a second straight month of growth after contracting in October, as robust growth in cement and steel outweighed continued weakness in oil and gas production. However, on a cumulative basis, growth during April to December in FY26 stood at 2.6%, lower than the 4.5% growth seen in the corresponding period of 2024-25.

The eight sectors covered by the index are coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity. Together, they account for 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Despite the stronger headline growth, energy-related segments continued to weigh on the index.

Crude oil production contracted 5.6% y-o-y in December, while natural gas output fell 4.4%. Refinery products, which carry the highest weight of just over 28% in the index, declined 1.0% during the month. The y-o-y contraction in all these three industries was higher in December than November.

In contrast, construction and manufacturing-linked segments showed sustained strength.

Cement output jumped 13.5% y-o-y, while steel production rose 6.9%. Fertiliser output rose 4.1%, and electricity generation grew 5.3%, providing broad-based support to the overall expansion in the index. Coal production also rose 3.6% in December.

Among these five industries, y-o-y growth in December was faster than in November in all but fertilisers and cement. To be sure, the December data is provisional and subject to revision in subsequent releases, and should therefore be read with caution.