2026: India’s New Base Year for Key Economic Indicators

Summary: The year 2026 is presented as a significant year for revising India’s macroeconomic indicators and economy-related statistics. The revised series seeks to align key indicators with global standards and the changing economic environment, including digitisation, new industries and post-pandemic consumption patterns. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has revised the GDP, CPI and IIP series, while the Ministry of Commerce has revised WPI and introduced the Producer Price Index (PPI) framework. The new base year for GDP and IIP is 2022-23, while CPI uses 2024 and ISP uses 2024-25. The article explains GDP, IIP, ISP, CPI, WPI, PPI and the Index of Core Industries, along with the timeline and release calendar for the new series. The revised IIP series adopts Output PPI as a deflator for specified value-based item groups. The article also outlines changes in survey methodology and explains the principal components and purpose of the newly introduced producer price and services production indices.

Introduction: 2026 is the year of India’s one of the biggest overhauls in macroeconomic indicators and economy related statistics. Govt has revised the base year for important key indicators to make them appear in line with global standard as well as to make them fit according to the newly changed economic environment of India. This rebasing exercise was done to capture the widespread digitization (OTT, E-Com etc), new industries and post pandemic changes in consumption pattern. This will improve the data accuracy and data alignment with statistical methods used in current international standards.

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has revised new series for GDP, CPI, IIP data, whereas Ministry of Commerce has revised WPI and introduced Producer Price Indices (PPI).

Producer Price Index (PPI) is new index that measures the change in price received or paid by producers during their production process. It is more accurate and reliable index than WPI. Under the PPI framework, India is developing separate measures for producer output prices, input prices and services prices. In future, Govt will replace WPI with PPI framework.

PPI Framework

PPI framework consists of three major components:

1. Output PPI (OPPI) – Change in prices received by producers for their output sold.

2. Input PPI (IPPI) – Change in prices paid by producers for inputs bought for production.

3. Services PPI (SPPI) – Change in prices received by service providers for service supplied.

The New base year for GDP and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is 2022-23 and for Consumer Price Index (CPI), the new base year is 2024. Base year revision of GDP, CPI & IIP is supported by in depth researches by respective Technical Advisory Committee / Expert Groups comprising of experts from Academia, Central and State Governments, RBI etc.

Changes to Improve Survey Results

In order to improve the survey results, MoSPI brought following changes.

1. Increase in sample size

2. Survey instruments, survey periodicity etc.

3. Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)

4. Household Consumption expenditure Survey 2023-24 (HCES) and

5. Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE)

TIMELINE OF NEW SERIES

The revised IIP series with base year 2022-23 and the use of Output PPI as a deflator is also discussed in a TaxGuru publication on the Index of Industrial Production. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

LET US UNDERSTAND EACH TERM IN BRIEF

1. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP)

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) means market value of all final goods and services produced within a country’s geographical boundaries during a specific period (like quarter or year). It is the most important indicator of a nation’s economic size and growth. In India, GDP is compiled and released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

2. INDEX OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION (IIP)

Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is a monthly report card of industrial production related to mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors. It serves as an important indicator of short-term industrial performance & economic activity. The IIP is compiled and released by MoSPI.

It measures changes in volume of production. This data drives various sectoral stocks.

3. INDEX OF SERVICE PRODUCTION (ISP)

Index of Services Production is a new index designed to measure change in volume/quantity of services produced in India, instead of change in their prices. The purpose of this index is to measure the growth in Service sector. The base year taken for ISP is 2024-25. The Govt has released the first trial Index of Service Production for 19 sub-sectors for April 2026 covering around 60% of India’s services sector.

TaxGuru has also published FAQs on Index of Services Production and an article on the Index of Services Production. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

4. CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (CPI)

It measures the changes in retail prices of a basket of goods and services consumed by households. It is the principal measure of retail inflation in India and is used by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for inflation targeting under the monetary policy framework. CPI is also compiled and released monthly by MoSPI.

5. WHOLESALE PRICE INDEX (WPI)

The Wholesale Price Index measures the average change in the prices of goods traded at the wholesale or producer-to-wholesaler level, before they reach the final consumer. It is an important indicator of producer-side inflation and is compiled and released by the Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

PPI FRAMEWORK / FAMILY – NEWLY INTRODUCED

6. OUTPUT PRODUCER PRICE INDEX (Output PPI)

Output Producer Price Index captures the prices of goods and services sold at factory gate (first point of sale). Unlike WPI, it directly captures prices earned by producers and aligns India with international best practices in measuring producer inflation. It does not include indirect taxes.

7. INPUT PRODUCER PRICE INDEX (INPUT PPI)

Input Producer Price Index (IPPI) measures change in prices paid by producers for purchasing inputs such as raw materials, fuel, intermediate goods etc used in the production process. It reflects changes in producers’ input costs and helps assess cost pressures faced by industries.

8. SERVICES PRODUCER PRICE INDEX (SPPI)

Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) tracks average change in prices received by service providers for services they supply to businesses. It captures inflation in services sector from the producer’s perspective. It is crucial for an Indian economy where services contribute over 55% of the national GDP. Initially SPPI is compiled for 7 services such as Banking, Securities Transaction, Insurance, Management of Pension Funds, Railways, Air (Passenger) &Telecom.

9. INDEX OF CORE INDUSTRIES (ICC)

Index of Core Industries (ICC) is another index that measures growth in production of core infrastructure industries, which is backbone of India’s industrial economy. It is compiled and released monthly by the Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA), DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Its base year FY 2011-12 is changed to FY 2022-23.

Nine Core Industries are: (Earlier Eight Core Industries)

• Iron Ore (Newly Added)
• Coal
• Crude Oil
• Natural Gas
• Refinery Products
• Fertilisers
• Steel
• Cement
• Electricity

The combined weight of these core industries in the broader Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is now 88% under the new base year 2022-23, updated from the previous 40.27% under the 2011-12 series.

Release Calendar

Note

1. WPI, PPI, Index of Core Industries are released by Office of Economic Advisor, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce.

2. CPI, IIP, GDP, Annual survey of Industries and other statistics are released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.