About ICI 

• • The monthly Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) is a production volume index.
  • The objective of the ICI is to provide an advance indication on production performance of industries of ‘core’ nature before the release of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) by the Central Statistics Office.
  • These industries are likely to impact on general economic activities as well as industrial activities.
  • The Eight Core Industries- Electricity, steel, refinery products, crude oil, coal, cement, natural gas and fertilizers- comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the IIP.

• 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

• ICI is released by the Office of Economic Advisor, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industries. The base year of the ICI is 2011-12.

Why in News?

• According to the latest official data, the lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in core sector output contracting 38% in April 2020, compared with the same month in the previous year.
• This is the second straight month in negative territory for the index of eight core sector industries, after a 9% fall in March 2020.