UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — INDEX OF EIGHT CORE INDUSTRIES (BASE YEAR: 2011-12=100) FOR FEBRUARY, 2026

Q1. Which one of the following best describes the Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI)?

  • A. A wholesale price index covering eight essential commodities
  • B. A monthly production-volume index of eight infrastructure-supporting industries whose combined weight in the IIP is 40.27%
  • C. A consumer price index for eight industrial product groups
  • D. An index of capacity utilisation across eight manufacturing sectors

Q2. The Index of Eight Core Industries is most directly regarded as a high-frequency lead indicator of which one of the following?

  • A. Wholesale Price Index (WPI)
  • B. Consumer Price Index (CPI)
  • C. Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
  • D. Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI)

Q3. The Index of Eight Core Industries is compiled and released by which one of the following?

  • A. National Statistical Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
  • B. Office of the Economic Adviser, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry
  • C. Economic Division, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance
  • D. Central Statistics Office under NITI Aayog

Q4. Immediately before adopting the current 2011-12 base year, the Index of Eight Core Industries was compiled on which one of the following base years?

  • A. 1993-94
  • B. 1999-2000
  • C. 2009-10
  • D. 2004-05

Q5. The current 2011-12 base year of the Index of Eight Core Industries was adopted primarily to keep it aligned with the base year of which one of the following?

  • A. Wholesale Price Index (WPI)
  • B. Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
  • C. Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW)
  • D. National Accounts (GDP) series

Q6. The cumulative growth rate of 2.9% (provisional) reported together with the February 2026 ICI release corresponds to which one of the following periods?

  • A. April 2024 to February 2025
  • B. January 2026 to February 2026
  • C. April 2025 to February 2026
  • D. The complete financial year 2025-26

Q7. Consider the following statements regarding the release and revision methodology of the Index of Eight Core Industries. Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?

  1. The ICI is released on a monthly basis.
  2. The figure for the current reference month in each release is provisional.
  3. ICI figures, once published as final, continue to be revised in every subsequent monthly release.
  4. The ICI is released with a lag of about one month after the reference month.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 3 only
  • C. 2 and 4 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 4 only