The Office of Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has released the revised series of Index of Core Industries (ICI) with Base Year 2022-23, replacing the previous series with Base Year 2011-12. The new series expands coverage from eight to nine core industries by including Iron Ore due to its intensive use in production processes and contribution to industrial development. Significant methodological changes include using gross production data for Steel index compilation instead of net production data to align with Index of Industrial Production (IIP), and retaining only Raw Coal while excluding Coal Middling and Washed Coal to eliminate double counting. Weights for the new ICI series were derived pro-rata from corresponding items in the IIP (2022-23) series, distributed to 100. A linking factor of 1.47 has been calculated between the old and new series using geometric means.
The provisional ICI for June 2026 shows 5.0% year-on-year growth, marking an improvement from the 3.2% growth recorded in May 2026. Sectoral performance was mixed: Iron Ore led with remarkable 43.9% growth, followed by Electricity and Cement both at 9.8%, Steel at 4.6%, and Coal at 1.4%. However, Natural Gas (-7.4%), Crude Oil (-4.2%), Refinery Products (-4.7%), and Fertilizers (-3.3%) witnessed negative growth. Iron Ore and Electricity have been the major drivers of overall ICI growth in recent months. Cumulative growth for April-June 2026 stood at 3.6% (provisional) compared to 1.0% in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The new release schedule specifies that provisional ICI for a reference month will be released on the 20th of the following month (or next working day). The ICI for July 2026 will be released on Thursday, 20th August 2026. Historical data from April 2023 onward for the new series is available on the OEA web portal. The comprehensive data tables provide detailed indices and growth rates for all nine sectors over the past 13 months, annual comparisons, and cumulative performance metrics, with sector weights distributed as: Refinery Products (22.572%), Electricity (30.932%), Steel (17.584%), Coal (5.596%), Natural Gas (3.841%), Cement (4.41%), Crude Oil (7.43%), Fertilizers (2.731%), and Iron Ore (4.905%).