As a result, the number of core industries has risen from eight to nine.
Currently, the government assesses the performance of eight fundamental sectors — crude oil, petroleum refining, cement, electricity, natural gas, fertiliser, finished steel, and coal — on a monthly basis.
“The inclusion of iron ore in the revised ICI series stems from its widespread use in industrial production and its critical role in industrial development,” stated the Commerce and Industry Ministry in a release.
The new series, with 2022–23 as the base year, encompassing data for nine key sectors, is set to be published on July 20.
This revised series will replace the existing Index of Core Industries (ICI) series that has 2011–12 as its base year.
The ministry further clarified that, to align with the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), the updated ICI series utilizes gross production data for the steel index, substituting the net production data from the ICI (2011–12) series.
Within the coal sector, only raw coal remains in the newly revised series.
Coal middlings and washed coal have been excluded to prevent double counting, as both are products of raw coal, it noted.
In 2011, the government added natural gas and fertiliser to the core sector list.
Production growth across the eight core infrastructure sectors dipped to a seven-month low of 0.5% in May, impacted by decreased output in coal, crude oil, and refinery products.
