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Revised Index of Core Industries (ICI) with Base Year 2022-23 Released

UPSC / SSC current affairs note · Economy

Economy

Why in news

The Office of Economic Adviser (OEA) under DPIIT will release the revised ICI series with base year 2022-23 on 20 July 2026, replacing the old 2011-12 series. The revision includes the addition of iron ore as a ninth core industry and methodological changes for steel and coal indices.

Background

The Index of Core Industries (ICI) is a monthly index measuring the performance of eight core industries in India. The previous base year was 2011-12. The ICI weights are derived from the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) weights published by MoSPI.

Key facts

in5points

  1. Revised ICI series with base year 2022-23 will be released on 20 July 2026 at 5:00 PM by OEA, DPIIT.

  2. The new series replaces the existing ICI series with base year 2011-12.

  3. The release includes provisional ICI for June 2026 and back-series data from April 2023 to May 2026 (38 months).

  4. Iron ore has been added as a new core industry, increasing the number of core industries from eight to nine.

  5. ICI weights for the 2022-23 series are derived from IIP 2022-23 weights published by MoSPI, proportionally redistributed to sum to 100.

  6. For the steel index, gross production data is now used instead of net production data to align with IIP methodology.

  7. In the coal sector, only raw coal is included; washed coal and middlings are excluded to avoid double counting.

  8. The eight existing core industries are: coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement, and electricity.

Prelims pointers

  • Index of Core Industries (ICI) – monthly index of 9 core industries
  • Base year: 2022-23 (revised from 2011-12)
  • Released by: Office of Economic Adviser (OEA), DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry
  • New core industry added: Iron ore (now 9 industries)
  • Weights derived from IIP (Index of Industrial Production) by MoSPI
  • Steel index now uses gross production data
  • Coal index includes only raw coal
  • Release date: 20 July 2026

Mains angles

  • Discuss the significance of revising the base year of ICI and its impact on measuring industrial growth.
  • Analyze the addition of iron ore as a core industry and its implications for India's industrial policy.
  • Examine the methodological changes in ICI (steel gross vs net production, coal exclusion) and their effect on data accuracy.
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