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The Index of Core Industries grew 5.4% year-on-year in July 2026 on the provisional estimate, down from the 6.0% recorded in the final index for June 2026.
Six of the nine core sectors grew: iron ore 29.5%, cement 13.1%, electricity 9%, coal 7.6%, steel 2.9% and refinery products 2.7%. Natural gas, crude oil and fertilizers contracted.
Cumulative growth for April-July 2026 was 4.3% on the provisional estimate, against 1.5% in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The final index for June 2026 was revised up from 119.6 to 120.7, taking its year-on-year growth from 5.0% to 6.0%.
The figures are on the revised ICI series with base year 2022-23, released on 20 July 2026 by the Office of Economic Adviser, DPIIT, which added iron ore as the ninth core industry.
The Index of Core Industries measures the production of a small set of basic, upstream industries whose output almost everything else depends on — electricity, refinery products, steel, coal, crude oil, natural gas, cement, fertilizers and now iron ore. Two features make it useful. It is available early, on the 20th of the following month, well before the fuller Index of Industrial Production for the same month, so it acts as a first read on industrial activity. And because its constituents are inputs rather than final goods, a slowdown there tends to show up in downstream manufacturing later. The trade-off is coverage: the nine sectors are only 32.88% of the IIP's weight, so a strong ICI print is a signal about the industrial base, not a measurement of industry as a whole. Provisional numbers are also revised — June 2026's index moved from 119.6 to 120.7, changing the reported growth from 5.0% to 6.0%, which is a full percentage point of headline movement from a routine revision.
Simple Analogy: The ICI is the pulse taken at the wrist: quick, cheap, taken before the full examination, and informative about the whole body precisely because it measures something the whole body runs on. It is not a substitute for the full examination.
| Aspect | 2011-12 series | 2022-23 series |
|---|---|---|
| Number of core industries | Eight | Nine |
| Sector added | — | Iron ore |
| Combined weight in the IIP | 40.27% | 32.88% |
| Steel measurement | Net production | Gross production |
| Coal measurement | Included middling and washed coal | Excludes middling and washed coal to prevent double counting |
| Continuity device | — | A linking factor of 1.47 to preserve comparability with the earlier series |
Compiles and releases the Index of Core Industries and the Wholesale Price Index; it hosts the ICI data series from April 2023 onwards on its portal
The department under which the ICI is produced; it also handles industrial policy and the promotion of internal trade
The ICI's weights are derived from the IIP's own 2022-23 series and its nine sectors are a 32.88% subset of the IIP basket, so the two indices move together but are produced by different agencies — a distinction worth holding on to.
Rebasing the ICI to 2022-23 is part of a wider pattern in Indian official statistics, where an index's base year is periodically shifted to a more representative recent year so that the weights reflect the current structure of output.
The June 2026 revision from 119.6 to 120.7 shows why provisional prints should be read with caution: the reported growth rate moved a full percentage point without any new economic event.
Iron ore's 29.5% growth alongside steel's 2.9% is a reminder that upstream and downstream output in the same chain can diverge sharply in a single month, through inventory, exports or capacity effects.
GS Paper 3 > Indian Economy > Growth and Development, Economic Indicators
General Awareness > Economic Indicators and Data Releases
General Awareness > Indian Economy
General Awareness > Indian Economy
Read the following statements carefully and choose the correct option: Assertion (A): Iron and steel is considered a heavy industry. Reason (R): It requires lightweight raw materials like cotton and rubber.
Answer: A is true, but R is false
Core sector and IIP data appear regularly in banking general awareness and periodically in UPSC Prelims economy questions.
A monthly index of the production of nine basic industries — electricity, refinery products, steel, crude oil, coal, iron ore, cement, natural gas and fertilizers — compiled by the Office of Economic Adviser, DPIIT.
The reference year whose output structure supplies an index's weights and whose index value is set to 100; the ICI moved from 2011-12 to 2022-23 in July 2026.
A multiplier used to splice a new index series onto an old one so the historical run stays comparable; a factor of 1.47 was introduced for the ICI.
The provisional index is the first estimate released on the 20th of the following month; it is revised into a final index later, as June 2026's move from 119.6 to 120.7 shows.