Govt to release revised Index of Core Industries Series with new base year of 2022-23
New Delhi, July 17
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade will release the revised series of the Index of Core Industries with a new base year of 2022-23 on 20th July 2026, which will replace the existing ICI series that has 2011-12 as its base year, according to an official statement issued on Friday.
The ICI is compiled on a monthly basis. The release, by the DPIIT Economic Adviser's office, will include the provisional ICI for June 2026 along with the back series from April 2023 to May 2026, covering a period of 38 months, the statement said.
In accordance with the established methodology, the weights for the ICI (2022-23) series have been derived from the weights of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) 2022-23 series released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
The weights of the ICI basket items, drawn from the IIP, have been redistributed on a pro-rata basis to total 100 for finalising the weights of the ICI item basket, the statement explained.
In view of the extensive use of iron ore in industrial production and its significant contribution to industrial development, Iron Ore has been included as a core industry in the revised ICI series. Consequently, the number of core industries has increased from eight to nine.
To ensure consistency with the IIP, the revised ICI series uses gross production data for compiling the Steel Index, replacing the net production data used in the ICI (2011-12) series, according to the statement.
In the Coal sector, only Raw Coal has been retained in the revised ICI series. Coal Middlings and Washed Coal have been excluded to eliminate double counting, as both are derived from Raw Coal, the statement added.
The current Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) measures the combined and individual performance of production of eight core industries -- Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity.
The eight core industries comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and are a good indicator of the overall industrial growth in the economy. The number of these core industries will now go up to nine with the addition of iron ore
— IANS
Reader Comments
Good to see the government keeping up with data modernization. The back series from April 2023 to May 2026 will help economists track trends better. But I wonder how this change will affect India's global competitiveness rankings—will the new weights show a more accurate picture? 🤔
As someone from the steel industry, removing net production and going with gross production data is a significant change. It will show higher output numbers, but we need to be transparent about the difference. Also, excluding coal middlings and washed coal to avoid double counting is long overdue—better data hygiene! 💪
This is a step in the right direction, but I wish they had also considered including sectors like automotive or pharmaceuticals, which are massive drivers of our economy. Eight core industries covering only 40% of IIP weight feels narrow for a country our size. Still, better late than never! 🇮🇳
Hope the back series data is made publicly available and easy to access for researchers and students. Also, the move to include iron ore makes sense—it's used in everything from infrastructure to automobiles. But let's see if this leads to better coordination between DPIIT and MoSPI for more timely industrial data. 🤞
Interesting that the weights are derived from IIP 2022-23 series—that ensures consistency. But I'm curious about something: with iron ore now included, will the overall core industries weight as a percentage of IIP increase from 40.27%? That would make it an even better indicator of industrial health. Any economists here know? 🤓
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