Question : INDEX OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

(a) whether 343 items used to be included until recently to work out the index of the industrial production in the country but the number of items has been increased to 543 now;

(b) if so the reasons for the said increase and the names of items which have been added to the list;

(c) whether the items produced in the unorganized sector constitute only 25 per cent in the determination of the index; and

(d) if not, the facts in this regard and the names of items included which are produced in the unorganized sector? *****

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (DR. RAMAN SINGH)

(a) to (d):- A statement is enclosed.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 7385 FOR ANSWER ON 12.5.2000.

(a): The revised index of industrial production released w.e.f. 27th May, 1998 with the base year 1993-9 includes 543 items compared to 352 items included in the previous index of industrial production with the base year 1980-81.

(b) The revision of index of industrial production (IIP) is effected from time to time to realistically reflect the changing structure of th industrial sector and its growth rate by shipfting the comparison base to a recent period. With the change in the base period of the index, item basket also undergoes a change to correctly reflect the importanceof items. This has necessitated inclusion of new items/groups in the the new IIP series. The names of the new items are in Annexure-I.

(c) & (d) Due to non-availability of regular monthly production data on the items of the unorganised sector, monthly data on only eighteen items are used for compilation of monthly IIP series. The names and weights of the items are in Annexure-II.