Centre proposes new base year for GDP, IIP and CPI, no decision on economic census yet

The government has suggested that 2022-23 will be the base year for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Industrial Production Index (IPI), and 2024 for Consumer Price Index (CPI). This was informed in Parliament on Wednesday. GDP and IPI are currently computed on the basis of 2011-12, and CPI is computed on the basis of 2012.

The base year is the point of departure for observing data over time. It is the basis against which changes in data are measured. Base years are employed to quantify business activity, including growth or shrinkage in sales from period to period.

The Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation informed the Lok Sabha that the ministry is going to revise the base year of GDP, IIP, and CPI. He said that the base year is revised from time to time to better reflect the structural changes taking place in the economy. Under this, the methods of calculating data are updated, and new data sources are also included.

The government has used the list of goods and services and their proportions obtained from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24 for the revised index of Consumer Price Index (CPI). The ministry has conducted the first forward-looking survey on capital expenditure investment intentions in the private corporate sector between November 2024 and January 2025. Its report has been published. Apart from this, a pilot study has also been done on the Annual Service Sector Enterprise Survey. Its objective is to better understand the activities of the organized service sector. The Ministry said that a decision on conducting the eighth economic census has not yet been taken.