New Delhi: The government will come up with a revised series of the index of core industries (ICI) with a new base year of 2022-23 on July 20 this year, marking the first overhaul of the index in more than a decade and expanding its coverage with the inclusion of iron ore. The methodology of ICI has also been aligned more closely with the revised index of industrial production (IIP), the government said on Friday.
It has also been observed that the government has been on a data revision spree in the recent time, as it has already updated CPI, GDP, WPI and IIP calculations earlier this year. It also released the producer price index on a trial basis and an index of services production.
The ICI will track the performance of the country’s core infrastructure industries, whose output serves as a leading indicator for industrial production. “The revised series is expected to improve comparability with the new IIP base year and better reflect the evolving structure of India’s industrial economy,” the government said.
“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,” it added.
In a statement, the ministry of commerce & industry said that the revised series, to be released by the office of economic adviser under the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT), will replace the existing 2011-12 base year series.
The ministry, however, said that the key change in the revised index is the inclusion of iron ore as a core industry, taking the number of sectors covered by the index from eight to nine. “The move reflects iron ore’s extensive use in industrial production and its growing contribution to the economy,” the ministry said.
“Another methodological change is in the coal sector, where the revised index will include only raw coal. Coal middling as well as washed coal has been dropped to avoid double counting, as both are derived from raw coal. Alongside the provisional reading for June 2026, the government will also publish a back series covering the period from April 2023 to May 2026,” it added.
The weights of the revised core industries basket have been derived from the new 2022-23 base year IIP released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation. The weights have been redistributed on a pro-rata basis so that the total weight of the ICI basket adds up to 100.
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