From fertilizer production falling to near five-year low in March, to foodgrain stocks surging to nearly three times the mandated buffer, to rural patients spending more than urban counterparts at government hospitals, to major IT firms declaring their FY26 earnings — here is a compilation of this week's news in numbers.
Output slumps
India's fertilizer production fell to a near five-year low in March. Shortages of inputs, such as liquefied natural gas and sulphur, caused by the war in West Asia, dragged output down by 24.6% year-on-year. The fertilizer production index was at 95.7 in March 2026, its lowest reading since April 2021, when it had touched 88.3. The broader index of eight core industries, which covers coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement, and electricity, rose in absolute terms during the month but contracted 0.4% from a year ago, its weakest performance in nearly two years.
Supply chain disruptions stemming from the war weighed on energy and input-heavy sectors, with crude oil production, coal, and electricity generation all declining during the month.
IT scorecard
With Infosys declaring its results on Thursday, five major Indian IT companies have now reported their FY26 earnings, revealing a broadly strong revenue performance but uneven profit growth. On the revenue side, all five IT giants posted year-on-year growth. HCL Technologies (HCLTech) led with 11.2%, followed by Infosys at 9.6%, Tech Mahindra at 7.2%, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) at 4.6%, and Wipro at 4%.
Net profits, however, showed a mixed pattern. While Tech Mahindra recorded the strongest growth at 13%, followed by Infosys at 10.1%, TCS and Wipro posted modest gains of 1.3% and 0.4%. HCLTech was the only major IT firm that despite leading on revenue, recorded a 4.3% decline in net profit.
Pocket pinch
Government hospitals remain a more affordable option for hospitalization in India, according to a latest survey released by the statistics ministry earlier this week. Patients in villages spent more than those in cities and towns at both public facilities and charitable or trust-run hospitals. At government hospitals, the average spend was ₹6,905 per hospitalisation in rural areas against ₹6,032 in urban areas. At charitable and trust or NGO-run hospitals, the figures were ₹40,203 and ₹38,419, respectively.
At private hospitals, which include those empanelled under government health financing schemes, the only facility type where urban hospitalization costs exceeded rural spending was at ₹54,999 against ₹47,710 in villages.
The surve was conducted between January and December 2025 across 139,732 households.
Numbers talks
$50 billion: India and South Korea have set an ambitious target to double their bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030.
85%: The Centre plans a nationwide policy push to enable adoption of flex-fuel vehicles that can run on ethanol blends of up to 85%, Mint reported.
6.4%: The Indian economy is expected to grow at 6.4% in FY27, slower than the 7.4% estimated for FY26, owing to headwinds from the West Asia war, according to a report by the United Nations.
7.25 million: India generates this many tonnes of textile waste annually but lacks adequate collection, sorting, and recycling capacity, resulting in a $9.4 billion loss in value each year, according to a Ficci-RECEIC report.
30%: All new steel plants opening till 2030 may have to mandatorily use 30% of domestic coking coal, up from 20%. The blending mandate is expected to reduce coking coal import costs by nearly 25%, Mint reported.
Deleted voters
Amid the controversy over high numbers of voter deletions under the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the first phase of assembly elections in 152 of 294 constituencies in West Bengal concluded on Thursday. In Tamil Nadu, polling was held across all 234 assembly constituencies in a single phase.
Both West Bengal and Tamil Nadu witnessed high voter deletions under the SIR. West Bengal recorded the highest deletion rate at 15.9%, as per the final roll dated 28 February 2026, many of which were under adjudication and remained unresolved before the first phase of the polling. Tamil Nadu also recorded a 10.9% deletion rate. Both states are known for a strong presence of regional parties, and pose a tough test for the win rate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Bumper stocks
Amid the possibility of below-normal rainfall, along with rising fertilizer costs, government data shows high wheat and rice food grain stock, which could prove beneficial if agricultural activity slows down. The central pool of reserves was 60.5 million tonnes as on 1 April 2026, nearly three times the mandated buffer.
While India has largely managed stocks above the buffer norms, wheat stocks declined sharply to 7.5 million tonnes in 2024, following the El Niño phenomenon in 2023. However, after two years of above-normal rainfall, wheat stocks have shot up to 21.8 million tonnes. Rice stocks have also hit a historic high of 38.6 million tonnes, more than double the buffer norm. The scale of accumulation, however, has renewed concerns over storage costs and potential wastage.