Industrial output grows 4.9% in April as India shifts to new IIP series with 2022-23 base

India's industrial output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew 4.9% year-on-year in April, according to data released by the statistics ministry on Monday. The release marks the debut of the new IIP series with 2022-23 as the base year, replacing the 2011-12 series and introducing significant methodological and coverage changes.

IIP data is a vital high-frequency indicator that signals shifts in manufacturing momentum, investment demand, and overall economic growth.

The April reading is the first official estimate under the revised series, which aims to better reflect the evolving structure of India's industrial economy, emerging manufacturing segments and newer infrastructure-related activities.

This shift to 2022-23 is the 10th revision of base year of the all-India IIP. The first IIP was prepared with 1937 as the base year, which was subsequently revised to 1946, 1951, 1956, 1960, 1970, 1980-81, 1993-94, 2004-05 and 2011-12.

Industrial production in March, under the old series, had expanded by 3.2%. The comparable figure in April 2025 stood at 5.7%

What are the changes?

The revised index expands coverage beyond the traditional sectors of mining, manufacturing and electricity to include gas supply, water supply, sewerage and waste management activities. The mining and quarrying component has also been broadened to include minor minerals and rare earth minerals. It has also been split into dedicated indices for fuel minerals, metallic minerals and non-metallic minerals.

The energy basket also includes separate tracking of renewable and non-renewable electricity generation, allowing policymakers to better monitor India's evolving energy mix.

According to the statistics ministry, the new series comprises 463 item groups (1,042 mapped products) compared with 407 in the previous series, including 120 newly added products such as CCTV cameras, stents, aircraft and spacecraft parts, magnetic stripe cards, articles of non-woven textiles, and vaccines. Meanwhile, 64 outdated products including kerosene, CFL lamps, printing machines, sewing machines and certain tyre tubes have been dropped from the basket.

However, the six use-based categories—primary goods, capital goods, intermediate goods, infrastructure/construction goods, consumer durable goods and consumer non-durable goods—have remained the same from the 2011-12 series.

The data has also been made more representative by excluding permanently shut factories and including operating units and newly commissioned large factories.

Manufacturing output, which carries the highest weight in the index, grew 6.2% in April, while mining contracted 5.1% and electricity generation and gas supply rose 4.9%. The newly introduced water supply, sewerage and waste management activities increased 6.6%.

The revised series uses gross value added and output data from 2022-23 to derive weights, and adopts the latest National Industrial Classification (NIC) 2025 for dissemination. The ministry will also release sectoral linking factors to enable comparison between the old and new series.

What experts said

Economists said the rebasing is expected to provide a more representative picture of industrial activity by capturing structural changes in manufacturing, the rise of new technologies, and the growing importance of infrastructure-linked services.

Rajeev Sharan, head of research, Brickwork Ratings, said, "India's industrial cycle started FY27 on a firm footing, with the new base IIP up 4.9% YoY in April 2026, led by a 6.2% expansion in manufacturing. Mining’s 5.1% contraction weighed on the headline, but the breadth of manufacturing, with 17 of 23 industry groups recording positive growth, helped offset the drag.

On the demand side, Sharan noted that a robust 16% surge in capital goods, coupled with a 7-8% increase in intermediate and infrastructure goods, indicates strengthening investment momentum, and that a modest 3-4% growth in consumer goods points to a gradual recovery in consumption.

“With the shift to a 2022-23 base year and wider coverage, April's data should be read as an early sign that industrial growth is normalising at a moderate, investment-led pace. From a credit standpoint, this capex-heavy mix is mildly supportive for medium-term corporate and sovereign profiles, assuming the trend holds and is backed by earnings strength,” he added.

Saurabh Garg, secretary at the statistics ministry, said, “This is the third of the major indices that we have rebased. The basket for IIP is based on the production basket which is based on national accounts. the gaps that were there in the previous IIP has been filled. Significant addition is gas supplies, which is essentially gas distribution, as gas production was already there in the earlier IIP. And minor minerals is a major addition this year which is extensively used in the construction sector."

Asked about the impact of the West Asia crisis on industrial production, Garg said it would be limited, as IIP reflects domestic production, with only refined petroleum products showing significant change.

Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA Ltd, said the numbers belied fears that the West Asia war would have an immediate negative impact on indistrial production. “As many as five of the six use-based segments witnessed an uptick in their growth rates in April 2026 vis-à-vis March 2026, barring primary goods, which largely reflects the tepid performance of the mining sector. Notably, capital goods output expanded by double digits for the sixth consecutive month in a row, while infra/construction goods output rose by a healthy 7.1% in the month, suggesting that construction and investment activity continues to remain strong.”