Office of Economic Adviser to release revised index of core industries with 2022-23 base year on July 20
New Delhi, July 17
The Office of Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, will release the revised series of the Index of Core Industries with the base year 2022-23 on July 20.
The new framework will replace the long-standing Index of Core Industries series that used 2011-12 as its base year. The Ministry of Commerce & Industry stated that the upcoming publication will feature the provisional core sector data for June 2026. The department will also publish the historical back series spanning 38 months, from April 2023 to May 2026.
According to the Ministry, the restructuring brings structural adjustments to the composition and tracking metrics of India's key industrial sectors. A primary change includes the expansion of the index basket itself.
"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," the Ministry stated.
This addition officially shifts the total number of monitored core industries from eight to nine.
The formulation of the new series directly connects with broader industrial tracking metrics managed by the central government.
"As per 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 Commerce & Industry Ministry detailed.
The Ministry further explained the statistical adjustment required for the core index: "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."
Statistical alignments also changed how individual sectors report their output. To ensure consistency with the broader Index of Industrial Production, the revised core index utilises gross production data for compiling the Steel Index. This administrative shift replaces the net production data that the government utilised under the older 2011-12 series.
Refinements hit the energy sector components as well, specifically aimed at improving data accuracy. In the Coal sector, the department retained only Raw Coal within the revised index parameters.
"Coal Middlings and Washed Coal have been excluded to eliminate double counting, as both are derived from Raw Coal," the Ministry stated.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Finally! The 2011-12 base year was making our core sector data look outdated. Adding iron ore is a smart step - our steel industry is growing rapidly and iron ore is its backbone. Also good to see they're fixing double counting in coal data. Accuracy matters! 🤔📊
As someone who tracks Indian economic indicators for work, this is a welcome change. The 2022-23 base year will reflect post-pandemic structural shifts better. The 36-month back series will also help analysts understand long-term trends. Though I hope the transition doesn't create data discontinuities that confuse comparisons.
Interesting to see iron ore getting core status. But I wonder - with our growing focus on renewable energy and EVs, shouldn't lithium, cobalt or rare earth minerals also be considered? 🤔 Also, using gross production for steel index might inflate numbers. Net production gives a clearer picture of actual output.
The old base year 2011-12 was making our growth numbers look artificially high. Updating to 2022-23 will give a more realistic picture of where we stand now. But I hope the government also focuses on making this data accessible to the public in simple language. Common man should understand how the economy is doing! 🇮🇳
Good to see statistical improvements, but one concern: transferring weights from IIP to ICI might create inconsistencies if both indices aren't perfectly aligned. Also, excluding coal middlings and washed coal might reduce the energy sector's true contribution to core index. Hope
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