INDIAN CORE SECTOR AND IIP

The growth of eight core infrastructure sectors rose by 12.7% in June against 9.4% in the year-ago, period with all sectors except crude oil registering an uptick in production.

What are the Core Sector Industries?

• The eight-core sector industries include coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizer, steel, cement, and electricity.
• All these core industries are considered as main or key industries of the economy and serve as the backbone of all other industries
• The eight Core Industries in decreasing order of their weightage: Refinery Products> Electricity> Steel> Coal> Crude Oil> Natural Gas> Cement> Fertilizers.
• The eight core industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial production.

Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

• IIP is an indicator that measures the changes in the volume of production of industrial products during a given period.
• It is compiled and published monthly by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO), Ministry of Statistics, and Programme Implementation.
• The base year of the index has been revised to 2011-12 from 2004-05 in alignment with the new series of IIP.

It is a composite indicator that measures the growth rate of industry groups classified under:

• Broad sectors: Mining, Manufacturing, and Electricity.
• Use-based sectors: Basic Goods, Capital Goods, and Intermediate Goods.

Significance of IIP:

• It is used by government agencies including the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India, etc, for policy-making purposes.
• IIP remains extremely relevant for the calculation of the quarterly and advance GDP (Gross Domestic Product) estimates.

11th Agriculture Census

• The Eleventh Agricultural Census (2021-22) was launched recently.
• It will bring huge benefits to an agricultural country like India.

About agriculture census

• It is a statistical operation for collecting, processing, and disseminating data on the structure of agriculture by covering the whole or a significant part of the country.
• It is conducted every 5 years, which is being undertaken now after a delay due to the Covid - 19 Pandemic.
• The Census is the main source of information on a variety of agricultural parameters at a relatively minute level, such as the number and area of operational holdings, their size, the class-wise distribution, land use, tenancy, cropping pattern, etc.
• The first Agriculture Census was conducted in the year 1970-71, and till now India has conducted ten Agriculture Censuses so far and the present census with the reference year 2020-21 is the 11th Census.
• This Census is organized by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture.
• The data is collected in three phases, the Department brings out three detailed reports analyzing trends on various parameters at All India and States/UTs level.

About 11 censuses

• This is for the first time that data collection for the agricultural census will be conducted on smartphones and tablets so that data is available on time.
• The fieldwork of the agricultural census will start in August 2022.
• Most States have already digitized their land records and surveys, which will further enhance the collection of agricultural census data.
• The use of digitized land records and the use of mobile apps for data collection will enable the creation of a database of operational holdings in the country.

Data digitalization of agriculture includes:

• Use of digital land records like land title records and survey reports.
• Collection of data through app or software using a smartphone/tablet.
• A complete enumeration of all villages in states with non-land records during Phase-I as done in states having land records.
• Real-time monitoring of progress and processing.

World Census of Agriculture

• The International Institute of Agriculture conducted the first Programme for the World Census of Agriculture (WCA) in the year 1930.
• Beginning in 1950, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has been preparing and advocating the decennial World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA).
• The concept of agricultural operational holdings adopted in India differs to some extent from that of FAO, as it does not include those holdings which are not operating any agricultural land and are engaged exclusively in poultry, livestock & fishing, etc.

INDIA'S FIRST BULLION EXCHANGE

• The Prime Minister recently launched India's first international bullion exchange - India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX)- in Gujarat.
• The bullion exchange was launched at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) GIFT City in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
• Bullion refers to physical gold and silver of high purity often kept in the form of bars, ingots, or coins.
• It can be considered legal tender and is often held as reserves by central banks or held by institutional investors.

IIBX

• The National Stock Exchange, Multi Commodity Exchange, India INX International Exchange, National Securities Depository, and Central Depository Services Ltd have joined hands to establish the holding company in India International Bullion Holding, which will operate the International Bullion Exchange.
• The IIBX was announced in the 2020 Union Budget, has enrolled jewellers to trade on the exchange, and set up the infrastructure to store physical gold and silver.
• It is India’s first international bullion exchange. It offers a diversified portfolio of products and technology services at a cost far more competitive than the Indian exchanges as well as other global exchanges in Singapore, Dubai, Hongkong, New York, and London.
• As the second biggest consumer of gold globally, setting up the IIBX is seen as India’s effort to bring transparency to the market for the precious metal.
• International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA) is the regulator of IIBX

Advantage

• The IIBX will be a gateway for bullion imports into India, where all bullion imports for domestic consumption shall be channelized through the exchange.
• In addition to providing a trading avenue to various participants, a bullion exchange will also offer the advantages of price discovery, transparency in disclosures, guaranteed centralized clearing, and assurance of quality.
• A bullion exchange, apart from providing standardization and a transparent mechanism, will also be an important step toward the financialization of bullion-based products, as per the report.
• The IFSCA has ensured the sourcing integrity of the bullion delivered through IIBX by mandating compliance to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas.
• Gold is tightly regulated in India and currently only nominated agencies and banks approved by the Reserve Bank of India can import gold and sell it to dealers and jewellers across the country.

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