Industrial output grew 8 percent in August, led by factories and power

India's industrial output grew 8 percent in August from a year earlier, the National Statistics Office said on 28 September. That is 60 basis points faster than the revised 7.4 percent in July, and well above the 4.7 percent recorded in August 2025. The index stood at 123.3, against 114.2 a year earlier and 125.6 in July. The level dipped from July. The growth rate rose because last August was a weaker base.

This is the fifth monthly reading on the new series, which uses 2022-23 as the base year in place of 2011-12. Comparisons with figures published before the rebase need that caveat. Inside the new series, August is the second-strongest reading in 29 months, after 8.8 percent in June.

Factories did the work, and so did the grid

Manufacturing, about 76 percent of the index, grew 9 percent, up from a revised 8.2 percent in July and from 3.6 percent a year earlier. It was the third straight month at 8 percent or more, and the second-highest manufacturing print in 29 months. Eighteen of 23 industry groups expanded. The groups that moved the index were motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers at 25.2 percent, electrical equipment at 30.9 percent, and other transport equipment at 25.3 percent. Rubber and plastic, beverages, non-metallic minerals, fabricated metal and textiles also added.

Electricity and gas supply grew 12.3 percent, the fastest of the four broad sectors, and the highest rate for that sector since May 2024. July had been 8.7 percent. Inside the sector, renewable generation rose 15.4 percent and non-renewable generation 12.3 percent. Gas supply fell 2.4 percent. The split matters for anyone reading the print as a demand signal. A hot month, or a month of strong renewable availability, lifts the electricity line without a matching lift in factory orders. August had both: factories at 9 percent and power at 12.3 percent.

What did not grow

Mining and quarrying contracted, and more sharply than in July. Water supply, sewerage and waste management slowed. Two of the four broad sectors improved. Two did not. A headline of 8 percent that is carried by manufacturing and power can reverse if either of those cools and mining stays negative. The use-based reading, in the Business Standard account of the release, is consistent with a goods-producing month rather than a mining month. Capital and infrastructure goods sit inside the vehicle and electrical lines that ran at 25 to 31 percent. Those are project and fleet purchases, not only consumer restocking.

The index level of 123.3 against July's 125.6 is the caution. Growth from a year ago can rise while output from a month ago falls. Festive production often peaks later. A September print below 8 percent would not, by itself, undo August. It would show whether the vehicle and electrical lines held after the month in which they did the heavy lifting.

How to read the next release

The next IIP will be judged against three numbers from this one: manufacturing at 9 percent, power at 12.3 percent, and mining in contraction. If manufacturing stays above 8 for a fourth month, the rebase year will have produced a run that the old series rarely showed. If the vehicle line drops back toward the average, August will look like a fleet month rather than a new trend. The NSO has not revised the method again. The 2022-23 base is the one these rates sit on, and it is the one the next release has to match.