The new series modernises the index by shifting the base year to 2022-23 from 2011-12.
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STRINGER/INDIA
The first headline number for core infrastructure industries under the new series showed that production growth was 5 per cent in June, Commerce & Industry Ministry reported on Monday. It was 3.2 per cent in May.The new series modernises the index by shifting the base year to 2022-23 from 2011-12. It also expands the core infrastructure basket from eight industries to nine by introducing iron ore. In a statement, the Ministry cited iron ore's intensive role in production and its heavy footprint in industrial development as the primary reasons for its inclusion.Further, gross production data have been used for compilation of the Steel Index in the new series, replacing the use of net production data to make it consistent with Index of Industrial Production (IIP).Talking about other features of new series, only raw coal has been retained, by excluding coal middling and washed coal to remove double counting, since coal middling and washed coal are made from raw coal. Following the earlier practice, the weights have been derived from the weights of the corresponding items of IIP (2022–23) series, which have been pro-rata distributed to 100.Talking about June number, the statement said that iron ore, electricity, cement, steel and coal observed growth rate of 43.9 per cent, 9.8 per cent, 9.8 per cent, 4.6 per cent, and 1.4 per cent, respectively, whereas natural gas, crude oil, refinery products and fertilizers witnessed negative growth in June 2026. Cumulative growth rate of ICI during April-June 2026 was 3.6 per cent compared to 1.0 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.According to Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist with Bank of Baroda, the entire crude oil-related sectors: crude oil, gas, refinery products and fertilizers witnessed negative growth in June which can be attributed to higher imports with global crude prices cooling off. Export of refinery products had slowed down this month. In case of fertilizers imports tended to increase. The thrust areas: steel and cement continued to push up growth with spending by private sector and government contributing to the same.“We can expect IIP growth to be in the region of 3-4 per cent for the month,” said Sabnavis.Adding to this, Rahul Agrawal, Principal Economist at ICRA, said that pickup in the headline number was not broad-based and was led by an improvement in the performance of just four of the nine sectors between these months. The sizeable rainfall deficit also augured well for electricity generation, which expanded by a sharp 9.8 per cent in June, only a tad slower than the previous month.“Fertilizer output contracted for the fourth consecutive month, likely reflecting the continued adverse impact of the West Asia tensions, while the growth in steel output slumped to a 21-month low of 4.6 per cent in the month,” he said.Published on July 20, 2026
