Coal sector achieves exceptional growth of 10.2 percent as per ICI data

New Delhi: The coal sector as per provisional data, has demonstrated the highest growth of 10.2 %,  among the eight core industries for January 2024 as per the Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI))  with the Base Year 2011-12, released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industries.

The index of the coal industry has reached 218.9 points during Jan 2024 as compared to 198.6 points during the same period of last year and its cumulative index has increased by 12.2% during April to January 2023-24 over the corresponding period of the previous year.

The ICI is responsible for measuring the combined and individual production performance of eight core industries, viz. cement, coal, crude oil, electricity, fertilizers, natural gas, refinery products, and steel.

The Combined Index of Eight Core Industries experienced a notable 3.6% increase in January 2024, compared to the same period of the previous year, underscoring the coal sector's substantial contribution to overall industrial expansion.

The coal industry has been standing at par with consistently outperforming its counterparts, demonstrating sustained double-digit growth over the past seven months and substantially higher growth than the overall growth of eight core industries in the last two financial years.

The driving force behind this remarkable growth can be attributed to a significant surge in coal production during January 2024, with output reaching an impressive 99.73 million tonnes, marking a remarkable increase of 10.20% compared to the same period in the previous year.

This surge in production underscores the sector's capacity to meet the growing demand of energy and manufacturing industries.