According to the fourth print of the trial Index of Services Production (ISP) released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on September 29, 2026, ten of the 19 services sub-sectors recorded double-digit growth in July 2026, up from eight in July 2025. The services sector showed mixed performance with 17 sub-sectors expanding, down from 18 in the preceding month. As reported by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the breadth of growth was notable, with only two of the 19 sub-sectors recording a contraction during the month. The July 2026 data follows a strong July 2025 performance where real estate recorded the highest growth among the 19 service sub-sectors at 24.7%, while 18 of the 19 sub-sectors registered positive growth.
Administrative and support services emerged as the fastest-growing segment, with growth accelerating to 20.9 per cent in July 2026 from 14.4 per cent in July 2025. Real estate, which had led in July 2025, slowed significantly to 14.4 per cent from 24.7 per cent. According to the NSO data, retail trade recorded 18.5 per cent growth, accommodation and food services achieved 12.6 per cent, and banking sector expanded to 12.3 per cent. Three sectors crossed into double digits during the month, with information and broadcasting growing 10 per cent from 4.6 per cent in July 2025, telecommunications rising to 11 per cent from 9.5 per cent, and professional, scientific and technical services including R&D growing 10.4 per cent from 9.1 per cent. The IT sector recorded 10.7% growth in July 2026, while insurance grew 8.9% during the month.
Transportation segments other than aviation showed improvement during July 2026. Railway transport growth more than doubled to 7.5 per cent from 3.3 per cent in July 2025, while postal and courier services quickened to 8.7 per cent from 5 per cent. Water transport rose to 7.7 per cent from 6.9 per cent, and road transport improved to 9.9 per cent from 9.8 per cent. Accommodation and food services also improved, rising to 12.6 per cent from 10.2 per cent, and banking edged up to 12.3 per cent from 11.4 per cent.
The sharpest deceleration occurred in repair services, where growth fell 12.5 percentage points as it swung to a 5 per cent contraction from 7.5 per cent growth in July 2025. Air transport contracted for a fourth consecutive month, with the decline widening to 8.4 per cent from 6 per cent in July 2025. Warehousing and support activities for transportation dropped out of the double-digit group, slowing to 9.8 per cent from 11.8 per cent.
In index terms, accommodation and food stood highest at 144, followed by retail trade at 140 and administrative and support services at 134.5. Air transport was the lowest at 87.8, followed by railway transport at 106.1 and arts, entertainment and recreation at 107. According to the NSO data, eleven sub-sectors had a higher year-on-year growth rate in July 2026 than they did in July 2025, indicating overall sector improvement despite the mixed performance across different segments. The month-wise indices for all sub-sectors from July 2025 are available on the Ministry's website at mospi.gov.in.
