Output levels in India’s core sectors slipped to a nine-month low in August 2024, even as year-on-year growth slipped 1.8%, marking the first contraction in three and a half years.

About Index of Industrial Production

• IIP is an indicator that measures the changes in the volume of production of industrial products during a given period.
• It is compiled and published monthly by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• It is a composite indicator that measures the growth rate of industry groups classified under:
  • Broad sectors, namely, Mining, Manufacturing, and Electricity.
  • Use-based sectors, namely Basic Goods, Capital Goods, and Intermediate Goods.
• Base Year: 2011-2012.
  • The government is aiming to adopt a new base year for the IIP by 2026-27. 
  • The proposed new base year is 2020-21.

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About Eight Core Sectors

• The main or the key industries constitute the core sectors of an economy. In India, there are eight sectors that are considered the core sectors. 
• The eight core sector industries in decreasing order of their weightage: Refinery Products> Electricity> Steel> Coal> Crude Oil> Natural Gas> Cement> Fertilisers.
• They comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).