Global Industry Classification Standard

The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) is an industry taxonomy developed in 1999 by MSCI and Standard & Poor's (S&P) for use by the global financial community. The GICS structure consists of 11 sectors, 25 industry groups, 74 industries and 163 sub-industries[1] into which S&P has categorized all major public companies. The system is similar to ICB (Industry Classification Benchmark), a classification structure maintained by FTSE Group.

GICS is used as a basis for S&P and MSCI indexes used in the financial field which each company is assigned to a sub-industry, and to an industry, industry group, and sector, by its principal business activity. "GICS" is a registered trademark of McGraw Hill Financial and MSCI Inc.[2][3]

Classification

The classification is as follows:[1]

Sector		Industry Group		Industry		Sub-Industry
10	Energy	1010	Energy	101010	Energy Equipment & Services	10101010	Oil & Gas Drilling
						10101020	Oil & Gas Equipment & Services
				101020	Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels	10102010	Integrated Oil & Gas
						10102020	Oil & Gas Exploration & Production
						10102030	Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing
						10102040	Oil & Gas Storage & Transportation
						10102050	Coal & Consumable Fuels
15	Materials	1510	Materials	151010	Chemicals	15101010	Commodity Chemicals
						15101020	Diversified Chemicals
						15101030	Fertilizers & Agricultural Chemicals
						15101040	Industrial Gases
						15101050	Specialty Chemicals
				151020	Construction Materials	15102010	Construction Materials
				151030	Containers & Packaging	15103010	Metal, Glass & Plastic Containers
						15103020	Paper & Plastic Packaging Products & Materials
				151040	Metals & Mining	15104010	Aluminum
						15104020	Diversified Metals & Mining
						15104025	Copper
						15104030	Gold
						15104040	Precious Metals & Minerals
						15104045	Silver
						15104050	Steel
				151050	Paper & Forest Products	15105010	Forest Products
						15105020	Paper Products
20	Industrials	2010	Capital Goods	201010	Aerospace & Defense	20101010	Aerospace & Defense
				201020	Building Products	20102010	Building Products
				201030	Construction & Engineering	20103010	Construction & Engineering
				201040	Electrical Equipment	20104010	Electrical Components & Equipment
						20104020	Heavy Electrical Equipment
				201050	Industrial Conglomerates	20105010	Industrial Conglomerates
				201060	Machinery	20106010	Construction Machinery & Heavy Transportation Equipment
						20106015	Agricultural & Farm Machinery
						20106020	Industrial Machinery & Supplies & Components
				201070	Trading Companies & Distributors	20107010	Trading Companies & Distributors
		2020	Commercial & Professional Services	202010	Commercial Services & Supplies	20201010	Commercial Printing
						20201050	Environmental & Facilities Services
						20201060	Office Services & Supplies
						20201070	Diversified Support Services
						20201080	Security & Alarm Services
				202020	Professional Services	20202010	Human Resource & Employment Services
						20202020	Research & Consulting Services
						20202030	Data Processing & Outsourced Services
		2030	Transportation	203010	Air Freight & Logistics	20301010	Air Freight & Logistics
				203020	Passenger Airlines	20302010	Passenger Airlines
				203030	Marine Transportation	20303010	Marine Transportation
				203040	Ground Transportation	20304010	Rail Transportation
						20304030	Cargo Ground Transportation
						20304040	Passenger Ground Transportation
				203050	Transportation Infrastructure	20305010	Airport Services
						20305020	Highways & Railtracks
						20305030	Marine Ports & Services
25	Consumer Discretionary	2510	Automobiles & Components	251010	Automobile Components	25101010	Automotive Parts & Equipment
						25101020	Tires & Rubber
				251020	Automobiles	25102010	Automobile Manufacturers
						25102020	Motorcycle Manufacturers
		2520	Consumer Durables & Apparel	252010	Household Durables	25201010	Consumer Electronics
						25201020	Home Furnishings
						25201030	Homebuilding
						25201040	Household Appliances
						25201050	Housewares & Specialties
				252020	Leisure Products	25202010	Leisure Products
				252030	Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods	25203010	Apparel, Accessories & Luxury Goods
						25203020	Footwear
						25203030	Textiles
		2530	Consumer Services	253010	Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure	25301010	Casinos & Gaming
						25301020	Hotels, Resorts & Cruise Lines
						25301030	Leisure Facilities
						25301040	Restaurants
				253020	Diversified Consumer Services	25302010	Education Services
						25302020	Specialized Consumer Services
		2550	Consumer Discretionary Distribution & Retail	255010	Distributors	25501010	Distributors
				255030	Broadline Retail	25503030	Broadline Retail
				255040	Specialty Retail	25504010	Apparel Retail
						25504020	Computer & Electronics Retail
						25504030	Home Improvement Retail
						25504040	Other Specialty Retail
						25504050	Automotive Retail
						25504060	Homefurnishing Retail
30	Consumer Staples	3010	Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail	301010	Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail	30101010	Drug Retail
						30101020	Food Distributors
						30101030	Food Retail
						30101040	Consumer Staples Merchandise Retail
		3020	Food, Beverage & Tobacco	302010	Beverages	30201010	Brewers
						30201020	Distillers & Vintners
						30201030	Soft Drinks & Non-alcoholic Beverages
				302020	Food Products	30202010	Agricultural Products & Services
						30202030	Packaged Foods & Meats
				302030	Tobacco	30203010	Tobacco
		3030	Household & Personal Products	303010	Household Products	30301010	Household Products
				303020	Personal Care Products	30302010	Personal Care Products
35	Health Care	3510	Health Care Equipment & Services	351010	Health Care Equipment & Supplies	35101010	Health Care Equipment
						35101020	Health Care Supplies
				351020	Health Care Providers & Services	35102010	Health Care Distributors
						35102015	Health Care Services
						35102020	Health Care Facilities
						35102030	Managed Health Care
				351030	Health Care Technology	35103010	Health Care Technology
		3520	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences	352010	Biotechnology	35201010	Biotechnology
				352020	Pharmaceuticals	35202010	Pharmaceuticals
				352030	Life Sciences Tools & Services	35203010	Life Sciences Tools & Services
40	Financials	4010	Banks	401010	Banks	40101010	Diversified Banks
						40101015	Regional Banks
		4020	Financial Services	402010	Financial Services	40201020	Diversified Financial Services
						40201030	Multi-Sector Holdings
						40201040	Specialized Finance
						40201050	Commercial & Residential Mortgage Finance
						40201060	Transaction & Payment Processing Services
				402020	Consumer Finance	40202010	Consumer Finance
				402030	Capital Markets	40203010	Asset Management & Custody Banks
						40203020	Investment Banking & Brokerage
						40203030	Diversified Capital Markets
						40203040	Financial Exchanges & Data
				402040	Mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)	40204010	Mortgage REITs
		4030	Insurance	403010	Insurance	40301010	Insurance Brokers
						40301020	Life & Health Insurance
						40301030	Multi-line Insurance
						40301040	Property & Casualty Insurance
						40301050	Reinsurance
45	Information Technology	4510	Software & Services
				451020	IT Services	45102010	IT Consulting & Other Services
						45102030	Internet Services & Infrastructure
				451030	Software	45103010	Application Software
						45103020	Systems Software
		4520	Technology Hardware & Equipment	452010	Communications Equipment	45201020	Communications Equipment
				452020	Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals	45202030	Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals
				452030	Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components	45203010	Electronic Equipment & Instruments
						45203015	Electronic Components
						45203020	Electronic Manufacturing Services
						45203030	Technology Distributors
		4530	Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment	453010	Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment	45301010	Semiconductor Materials & Equipment
						45301020	Semiconductors
50	Communication Services	5010	Telecommunication Services	501010	Diversified Telecommunication Services	50101010	Alternative Carriers
						50101020	Integrated Telecommunication Services
				501020	Wireless Telecommunication Services	50102010	Wireless Telecommunication Services
		5020	Media & Entertainment	502010	Media	50201010	Advertising
						50201020	Broadcasting
						50201030	Cable & Satellite
						50201040	Publishing
				502020	Entertainment	50202010	Movies & Entertainment
						50202020	Interactive Home Entertainment
				502030	Interactive Media & Services	50203010	Interactive Media & Services
55	Utilities	5510	Utilities	551010	Electric Utilities	55101010	Electric Utilities
				551020	Gas Utilities	55102010	Gas Utilities
				551030	Multi-Utilities	55103010	Multi-Utilities
				551040	Water Utilities	55104010	Water Utilities
				551050	Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers	55105010	Independent Power Producers & Energy Traders
						55105020	Renewable Electricity
60	Real Estate	6010	Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)	601010	Diversified REITs	60101010	Diversified REITs
				601025	Industrial REITs	60102510	Industrial REITs
				601030	Hotel & Resort REITs	60103010	Hotel & Resort REITs
				601040	Office REITs	60104010	Office REITs
				601050	Health Care REITs	60105010	Health Care REITs
				601060	Residential REITs	60106010	Multi-Family Residential REITs
						60106020	Single-Family Residential REITs
				601070	Retail REITs	60107010	Retail REITs
				601080	Specialized REITs	60108010	Other Specialized REITs
						60108020	Self-Storage REITs
						60108030	Telecom Tower REITs
						60108040	Timber REITs
						60108050	Data Center REITs
		6020	Real Estate Management & Development	602010	Real Estate Management & Development	60201010	Diversified Real Estate Activities
						60201020	Real Estate Operating Companies
						60201030	Real Estate Development
						60201040	Real Estate Services

Per the MSCI World index, Information Technology is the biggest sector, with 22% of world capitalisation.

Revisions

The classification standard is regularly updated by S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI. Numerous changes over the years have resulted in the addition, deletion, or redefinition of various sub-industries, industries, or industry groups.[4] Since 1999, there have been two revisions at the sector level:

• In 2016, the real estate industry group (with the exception of mortgage REITs) was moved out of the financials sector to a newly created real estate sector.[5]
• In 2018, the telecommunication services sector was renamed communication services. The sector was expanded to include media and entertainment companies previously in the consumer discretionary sector, as well as interactive media and services companies from the information technology sector.[6]
• In March 2023, several revisions were made. [7]

See also

• Industry Classification Benchmark
• International Standard Industrial Classification
• North American Industry Classification System
• Standard Industrial Classification
• Thomson Reuters Business Classification

References

1. "The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®)". Retrieved 2023-03-21.
2. "MSCI-Barra GICS Tables". Archived from the original on 2014-03-26. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
3. "MSCI-Barra GICS Sector Definitions". Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-26. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-02-11. Retrieved 2015-01-25.
5. "S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI Announce Further Revisions to the Global Industry Classification Standard Structure in 2016" (pdf). Retrieved 28 Dec 2018.
6. "Revisions to the Global Industry Classification Standard Structure in 2018" (pdf). Retrieved 28 Dec 2018.
7. "REVISIONS TO THE GLOBAL INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION STANDARD (GICS®) STRUCTURE EFFECTIVE MARCH, 2023" (pdf). Retrieved 21 Mar 2023.