EconomyTuesday, 21 July 2026·The Hindu - Economy
Updated Index of Core Industries: base year 2022-23, iron ore added, weights revised
India’s Index of Core Industries has been updated with 2022-23 as the base year, nine sectors, and revised weights including iron ore.
Key highlights
Direct fact
In 2026, the Union Government updated India’s Index of Core Industries (ICI) from the 2011-12 base year to 2022-23, added iron ore as the 9th sector, and aligned sector weights with the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
Key specifics
- The earlier ICI had 8 sectors: coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, steel, cement, electricity and fertilizers.
- Iron ore was added because of its intensive use in industrial production, taking the total to 9 sectors.
- Coal in the new series measures only raw coal; middling and washed coal were excluded to avoid double counting.
- Steel is now calculated on a gross output basis, matching the IIP methodology.
- Weight changes include electricity at 30.932%, coal at 5.596%, natural gas at 3.841%, refinery products at 22.572%, and iron ore at 4.905%.
Exam lens
Question type: economy and indices, match-the-following. TNPSC may ask the base year, the 9 sectors, and the revised weights; note that May 2026 ICI growth was revised from 0.5% to 3.2% in the new series.