Indian Economy
Core Sector Growth Slows to 2.6%
- 01 Feb 2019
- 2 min read
The government has released data on output growth of eight core industries’ which fell for the second straight month to touch 2.6% in December 2018.
Core Industries
- Core industry can be defined as the main industry which has a multiplier effect on the economy.
- In most countries, there is particular industry that seems to be backbone of all other industries and it qualifies to be the core industry.
- The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
Index of Industrial Production
- The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index which details out the growth of various sectors in an economy such as mineral mining, electricity,manufacturing, etc.
- It is compiled and published monthly by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation six weeks after the reference month ends, i.e a lag of six weeks.
- The Base Year of the Index of Eight Core Industries has been revised from the year 2004-05 to 2011-12 from April, 2017.
- The eight Core Industries in decreasing order of their weightage: Refinery Products> Electricity> Steel> Coal> Crude Oil> Natural Gas> Cement> Fertilizers.
- Earlier in July, 2018 a report by V.K Saraswat (NITI Aayog member) had recommended that the government should consider classifying the aluminium sector as India’s ninth core industry.
Industry | Weight (In percentage) |
Petroleum & Refinery production |
28.04 |
Electricity generation | 19.85 |
Steel production | 17.92 |
Coal production | 10.33 |
Crude Oil production | 8.98 |
Natural Gas production | 6.88 |
Cement production | 5.37 |
Fertilizers production | 2.63 |