IIP data for April 2021: Index showed 56 per cent growthThe index of eight core industries or ICI stood at126.7 in April 2021, showing an increaseby 56.1 per cent as compared to the index of April 2020.Thehigh growth rate in April 2021 waslargely due to the low industrial production across all sectors caused by nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Corona virus last year.The month over month production of eight core industries, as captured by ICI, declined by 15.1 per cent in April 2021 compared to March 2021due to emergence of second wave of infectious Covid-19.Finalgrowth rate of ICI for January 2021 has beenrevised to 1.3 per cent from its provisional level of 0.1 per cent.The growth rate of ICI during April-March 2020-21 was (-) 6.5 per centas compared tothe corresponding period of the last fiscal.ICI measures combined and individual performance of production in selected eight core industries namely coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity.The eight core industries comprise 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).