GS Paper 3
Topics covered: Indian economy- issues related to growth and planning
Context: Output from India’s eight core sectors grew by 9.4% in July.
- Crude oil was the sole sector to register a decline, with output shrinking 3.2%
- Cement production expanded the fastest in July, surging 21.8%, while fertilizers’ output clocked the slowest pace of growth at 0.5%. Production of natural gas grew by 18.9%, that of coal rose 18.7%, while steel and electricity saw output expand by 9.3% and 9%, respectively.
- Growth in core sector has been attributed to the base effect from last July, when output contracted 7.6%, and some affirmative action by the government on infrastructure spending.
- However, the overall Index of Eight Core industries in the first four months of 2021-22 remained below pre-pandemic levels, 1.5% lower than the April-July 2019 period.
What is a core sector?
The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The eight core industries are: Coal, Crude oil, Natural Gas, Refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity.
- The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index which details out the growth of various sectors in an economy such as mining, electricity and manufacturing.
- The all India IIP is a composite indicator that measures the short-term changesin the volume of production of a basket of industrial products during a given period with respect to that in a chosen base period.
- It is compiled and published monthly by the Central Statistical Organisation(CSO) six weeks after the reference month ends.
Prelims link
- What is a core sector?
- What is IIP?
- Reasons affecting core sector growth
Mains link
Discuss the policies that is required to increase the core sector growth in the country
