The index of mineral production for the mining and quarrying sector for March 2025 stood at 156.8, increasing by 0.4% over March 2024. Minerals like iron ore, manganese ore and zinc concentrate saw notable increase in production during March 2025 compared to March 2024.
Production of iron ore rose by 5.7% to 25.9 million metric tonne (MMT) during the said period. Manganese ore production grew by 9.7% to 0.39 MMT and production of zinc concentrate rose by 5.5% to 0.19 MMT in March 2025 over March 2024.
Production of some key minerals in the country has continued to witness strong growth during FY 2025-26, after reaching record production levels in FY 2024-25. Iron ore accounts for 70% of the total MCDR mineral production by value. Production of iron ore was 289 million metric tonne (MMT) in FY 2024-25.
As per provisional estimates for the first month (April) of FY 2025-26, there is a steady increase in the production of these minerals as compared to the production in the corresponding month last year. Production of Bauxite has increased from 1.87 MMT during April 2024 to 2.13 MMT during April 2025, with 13.9% growth.
Production of limestone has increased from 39.58 MMT during April 2024 to 40.5 MMT during April 2025, with 1.2% growth. Production of Lead & Zine Ore has increased from 1.24 MMT during April 2024 to 1.27 MMT during April 2025, with 2.4% growth. Production of Zinc Concentrate has increased from 0.13 MMT during April 2024 to 0.14 MMT during April 2025, with 7.7% growth.
In the non-ferrous metal sector, primary aluminium production in FY 2025-26 posted a growth of 1.5% over the corresponding period last year, increasing to 3.47 lakh ton (LT) in FY 2025-26 (April) from 3.42 LT in FY 2024-25 (April). During the same comparative period, refined copper production has grown by 15.6% from 0.45 LT to 0.52 LT.
India is the 2nd largest Aluminium producer, and top-10 producer in refined copper. Continued growth in aluminium and copper points toward continued strong economic activity in user sectors such as energy, infrastructure, construction, automotive and machinery.
