On 28 August 2026, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the Quick Estimates of the Index of Industrial Production for July 2026 on the 2022-23 base. Headline growth: 6.7 per cent year-on-year, against 7.3 per cent in June 2026. The index stands at 124.8, against 117.0 in July 2025.
This release matters for a reason beyond the number. The IIP a candidate learned last year is not the IIP being published now, and the difference is the sort of thing an examiner reaches for in the year after a revision.
What changed with the base year
The IIP moved from a 2011-12 base to a 2022-23 base, announced in June 2026. Three changes are examinable.
The sector count went from three to four. The classic answer — mining, manufacturing, electricity — describes the old series. The revised series reports:
| Sector | July 2026 growth | Index level |
|---|---|---|
| Mining & Quarrying | −0.9% | 94.4 |
| Manufacturing | +7.3% | 127.4 |
| Electricity & Gas Supply | +8.7% | 133.5 |
| Water Supply, Sewerage & Waste Management | +7.4% | 148.4 |
Two of those four names have changed substantively. Electricity became Electricity and Gas Supply, and Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Management is an entirely new sector. If a question asks how many sectors the IIP covers, the current answer is four.
Coverage widened. The item basket grew from 839 items to 1,042 products, and item groups from 407 to 463. The new series tracks output from rare earth minerals, renewable energy — with renewable and non-renewable electricity separated and weighted by base-year revenue shares — gas supply, water supply and waste management for the first time.
Methodology improved. The revised series uses Producer Price Indices, where available, to convert value-based production data into volume measures — a better way of stripping price change out of an output series.
Why revise at all? Because an index weighted to a decade-old production pattern gradually measures an economy that no longer exists. A base year should reflect the current structure of output. The same logic drives revision in the CPI, the WPI and the GDP series, and "why is a base year revised" is asked in exactly that generic form.
What July 2026 actually says
Manufacturing at 7.3 per cent is the number that carries the index, because manufacturing holds by far the largest weight. 19 of 23 industry groups at the NIC two-digit level grew.
The top three contributors are worth noting together, because they tell one story:
- Manufacture of electrical equipment — 28.3%
- Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers — 22.2%
- Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. — 12.1%
All three are capital and durable goods rather than consumer staples. Electrical equipment and machinery are what firms buy when they are expanding capacity; motor vehicles are the classic consumer durable. Growth concentrated here suggests investment demand rather than merely replacement consumption — a more encouraging composition than the same headline number driven by, say, food processing.
Mining contracting at −0.9 per cent is the outlier, and it is consistent with the monsoon: July is the wet month, open-cast mining and mineral transport slow, and the sector routinely dips. A monthly reading of mining in July should not be read as a trend.
Electricity and Gas Supply at 8.7 per cent reflects both industrial demand and cooling load.
IIP against the core industries index
These two are constantly confused, and July 2026 offers a clean comparison because both have now been published for the same month.
| Index of Core Industries (ICI) | Index of Industrial Production (IIP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | Eight core industries (nine items on the 2022-23 base, iron ore having been added) | Four sectors — mining & quarrying, manufacturing, electricity & gas supply, water supply/sewerage/waste |
| Released by | Office of the Economic Adviser, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry | National Statistical Office (NSO), MoSPI |
| Released on | around the 20th | the 28th (or next working day) |
| July 2026 | +5.4% | +6.7% |
| Relationship | The core industries are about 40% of IIP's weight | — |
The gap between 5.4 and 6.7 is itself informative. ICI grew more slowly than IIP in the same month, which means the non-core 60 per cent — chiefly the wider manufacturing base — grew faster than the core. That is the healthier configuration: the core industries are inputs, and an economy in which downstream manufacturing outpaces upstream inputs is one where value addition is rising. Being able to make that comparison is what separates an answer from a data recital, and it builds on the framework in our notes on inflation and price indices and the CDS/OTA economy hub.
Two cautions worth carrying
Quick Estimates are provisional. The release says so explicitly: these figures will be revised in subsequent releases under the IIP revision policy. June 2026's 7.3 per cent is itself a Quick Estimate. A first print is a first draft.
And the use-based classification is a separate lens. Alongside the sectoral split, the IIP is also published by use-based categories — primary goods, capital goods, intermediate goods, infrastructure/construction goods, consumer durables and consumer non-durables. That classification answers a different question: not which industry grew, but what kind of good it was. Capital goods growth is the standard proxy for investment demand, and consumer non-durables for everyday consumption. Knowing both classifications exist, and what each is for, is frequently the discriminating detail in a question.
🔑 Revision block
The release. 28 August 2026 — MoSPI, Quick Estimates of IIP for July 2026, base 2022-23. Released on the 28th of every month (or next working day).
The headline. IIP +6.7% year-on-year in July 2026, against +7.3% in June 2026. Index 124.8, against 117.0 in July 2025.
The four sectors — the key update. The 2011-12 series had three (mining, manufacturing, electricity). The 2022-23 series has four: Mining & Quarrying (−0.9%, index 94.4) · Manufacturing (+7.3%, 127.4) · Electricity & Gas Supply (+8.7%, 133.5) · Water Supply, Sewerage & Waste Management (+7.4%, 148.4).
What else the revision changed. Items 839 → 1,042; item groups 407 → 463. First-time coverage of rare earth minerals, renewable energy, gas supply, water supply, waste management; renewable and non-renewable electricity separated and weighted by base-year revenue shares. Producer Price Indices now used to convert value data to volume.
Why bases are revised. An index weighted to a decade-old production pattern stops measuring the current economy. Same logic as CPI, WPI and GDP revisions.
Manufacturing detail. 19 of 23 NIC two-digit groups grew. Top three: electrical equipment +28.3% · motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers +22.2% · machinery and equipment n.e.c. +12.1% — all capital and durable goods, pointing to investment demand rather than replacement consumption.
Mining's dip. −0.9% in July is consistent with the monsoon — not a trend reading.
IIP versus ICI. ICI — eight core industries, Office of the Economic Adviser, DPIIT (Ministry of Commerce & Industry), around the 20th, +5.4% in July 2026. IIP — four sectors, NSO under MoSPI, the 28th, +6.7%. Core industries are about 40% of IIP's weight.
What the gap means. ICI 5.4% below IIP 6.7% implies the non-core portion grew faster than the core — downstream manufacturing outpacing upstream inputs.
Two cautions. Quick Estimates are provisional and will be revised. Use-based classification is a separate lens — primary, capital, intermediate, infrastructure/construction, consumer durables, consumer non-durables — where capital goods proxy investment demand.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. On the 2022-23 base, the IIP covers how many sectors? (a) Four (b) Three (c) Eight (d) Six → (a) — the fourth is water supply, sewerage and waste management.
Q2. The Index of Industrial Production is released by: (a) the National Statistical Office under MoSPI (b) the Office of the Economic Adviser, DPIIT (c) the RBI (d) NITI Aayog → (a) — the Office of the Economic Adviser releases the core industries index.
Q3. IIP growth in July 2026 was: (a) 6.7% (b) 5.4% (c) 7.3% (d) 8.7% → (a) — 7.3% was manufacturing, 5.4% the core industries index.
Q4. Which sector recorded negative growth in July 2026? (a) Mining & Quarrying (b) Manufacturing (c) Electricity & Gas Supply (d) Water Supply, Sewerage & Waste Management → (a) — −0.9%, consistent with the monsoon.
Q5. The IIP Quick Estimates are released on: (a) the 28th of every month (b) the 20th (c) the 1st (d) the last working day → (a) — or the next working day.
Q6. The new IIP series covers how many products? (a) 1,042 (b) 839 (c) 463 (d) 407 → (a) — up from 839; item groups rose from 407 to 463.
Q7. The sector newly added in the 2022-23 IIP series is: (a) Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Management (b) Manufacturing (c) Mining (d) Construction → (a).
Q8. The top contributor to manufacturing growth in July 2026 was: (a) electrical equipment (b) motor vehicles (c) machinery and equipment n.e.c. (d) food products → (a) — 28.3%.
Q9. In the use-based classification, investment demand is best proxied by: (a) capital goods (b) consumer non-durables (c) primary goods (d) intermediate goods → (a).
Q10. The eight core industries account for approximately what share of IIP weight? (a) 40% (b) 60% (c) 25% (d) 75% → (a).
Q11. The revised IIP series uses which price index to convert value data into volume measures? (a) Producer Price Index (b) Consumer Price Index (c) Wholesale Price Index (d) GDP deflator → (a).
Q12. IIP at 6.7% exceeding the core industries index at 5.4% in the same month implies that: (a) the non-core portion grew faster than the core (b) mining led growth (c) the indices measure the same thing (d) prices rose faster than output → (a).
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Index questions are among the most predictable items in the economy section, and a base-year revision year sharpens all four shapes. The sector-count item — how many sectors the IIP covers, where the answer changed from three to four with the 2022-23 base and stale material will still say three. The agency item — NSO/MoSPI for IIP against the Office of the Economic Adviser/DPIIT for the core industries index, and for the WPI. The release-date item — the 20th for ICI against the 28th for IIP. The classification item — sectoral against use-based, and what capital goods indicate.
The fresh 2026 hook is the new series itself: four sectors, 1,042 items, rare earths and renewables tracked for the first time, and PPI-based deflation. A statement pair on the four sectors and the releasing agency is the likeliest single question — both halves true. As always, we describe the recurring pattern, not any exact past question.
Preparing for CDS or OTA? When a base year changes, every old note on that index becomes a liability — rewrite the sector list rather than trusting memory. Build the base with our notes on inflation and the economy hub, follow the daily CDS/OTA current affairs, and prepare with our faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Hitendra Deswal — Economy & statistics faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB / Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, 28 August 2026. Base-year revision details cross-verified with independent sources.