Not Only GDP And CPI, New IIP Series To Be Published By Early Next Year

The base year of the Index of Industrial Production has likely been set to fiscal 2023, with a rejig in weights which will continue to be drawn from the Annual Survey of Industries, the people quoted above said. Base year revisions for IIP were overdue, along with the GDP and CPI.

To capture the changes in the structure and composition of the industry over time due to the technological changes, economic reforms and consumption patterns of the people, it is necessary to revise the IIP periodically by changing its base to a more recent period.

Along with base year revision, for GDP, the ministry of statistics has incorporated several other key changes, such as use of the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises for Unorganised Sector Estimates, use of the Annual Survey of Service Sector Enterprises, use of double deflation (wherever possible) and use of GST data.

While the ministry of statistics is also working on providing de-seasonalised quarterly estimates of GDP, with several parts of the country not seeing as much difference between the seasons, the data might not be fully compliant with international standards. The Ministry of Statistics is also working in conjunction with state authorities for state and district-wise GDP data publication.

For CPI too, attempts by the ministry of statistics to incorporate data from e-commerce portals to reflect retail spending, remains a work-in-progress, with discussions with the portals going on, people in the know said.

The base year of the Index of Industrial Production has likely been set to fiscal 2023, with a rejig in weights which will continue to be drawn from the Annual Survey of Industries, the people quoted above said. Base year revisions for IIP were overdue, along with the GDP and CPI.

To capture the changes in the structure and composition of the industry over time due to the technological changes, economic reforms and consumption patterns of the people, it is necessary to revise the IIP periodically by changing its base to a more recent period.

Along with base year revision, for GDP, the ministry of statistics has incorporated several other key changes, such as use of the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises for Unorganised Sector Estimates, use of the Annual Survey of Service Sector Enterprises, use of double deflation (wherever possible) and use of GST data.

While the ministry of statistics is also working on providing de-seasonalised quarterly estimates of GDP, with several parts of the country not seeing as much difference between the seasons, the data might not be fully compliant with international standards. The Ministry of Statistics is also working in conjunction with state authorities for state and district-wise GDP data publication.

For CPI too, attempts by the ministry of statistics to incorporate data from e-commerce portals to reflect retail spending, remains a work-in-progress, with discussions with the portals going on, people in the know said.

Other changes in CPI include enhanced market coverage across sectors, especially services, data collection using computer assisted personal interview devices, real time validation checks, using computer assisted personal interview devices, better technology platforms, improvements in electricity index by capturing slab wise data, and rationalisation in compilation methodology of free items.

While the base year should ideally be revised every three-to-five years, in India, changing the base year is a more holistic exercise, officials from the ministry had previously explained.