UPSC Prelims 2015 · Question 8 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2015 question on Core Industries Index Weights
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2015
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectIndian Economy
- TopicIndustry
- DifficultyHard
- TypeDirect
In the 'Index of Eight Core Industries', which one of the following is given the highest weight?
Show answer
Answer: B. Electricity generation
Verdict
The answer is electricity generation. Electricity carries the highest weight among the eight core industries.
Analysis
The eight core industries are coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity, and together they account for a substantial share of the Index of Industrial Production. Electricity holds the largest weight of the eight, ahead of steel, coal and cement. Fertiliser production, offered as an option, carries one of the smaller weights in the group and is the weakest candidate of the four.
Source
Economic Survey appendix, table A-42.
How to crack it
Rather than memorising every weight, reason from economic scale: the core industry that touches every other industry as an input, and whose output value is the largest, is the one likely to be weighted highest. Electricity is consumed by all the others, which makes it the natural first guess. Keep two anchors for this index, the list of eight items and the top weight, because UPSC asks either the composition or the ranking rather than exact numbers, and the composition changes far less often than the weights.