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Growth, national accounts and their revision

How India measures what it produces: GDP, the national accounts, their revisions and the indices behind them.

All 4 articles shown; the 1 that changed from 1 to 31 August 2026 are marked.Show only these

The Producer Price Index and the new statistical series

Prelims and Mains

LeadNew numbers: the Producer Price Index and the new industrial indexJune 2026

Why in news

In June 2026 India released a new Index of Industrial Production and a new Wholesale Price Index, both on the base year 2022-23. With them came India's first Producer Price Indices, which will replace the wholesale index in about five years.

Background

An index measures change against a base year. The base year fixes the basket of goods and their weights.

India's main series had used bases more than a decade old: 2011-12 for GDP, industrial output and wholesale prices, and 2012 for consumer prices.

An old base misses new products and the changed shape of the economy.
Through 2026 every series moved: GDP to 2022-23, consumer prices to 2024, and now industrial output and wholesale prices to 2022-23.

Wholesale price and producer price compared

The Wholesale Price Index measures prices at the stage of the first bulk sale, and it covers only goods.
A Producer Price Index measures what the producer receives. It excludes taxes and transport, and it can cover services.

The wholesale index counts the same price rise more than once as a good passes down the chain; the producer index avoids this.
The producer index is the international standard.

What was launched

An Output index for goods, a trial Input index for manufacturing, and a Services index for seven services, among them banking, railways and telecom.
The wholesale index runs alongside for five years, so that contracts tied to it can switch. The industrial index moved to producer prices as its deflator in June, and the new GDP series uses them too.

The new industrial index is wider: it adds water supply, sewerage and waste management as a fourth section.

Why it matters

Real growth: output in rupees is turned into real output by dividing by a price index. A better price index gives a truer growth figure.
Policy: the Reserve Bank and the Budget lean on these numbers.
Trust: India's national accounts had drawn a poor grade from the International Monetary Fund for their dated methods.
The risk: a jump in growth or inflation that comes only from a change of base weakens confidence, unless the old and new series are linked in the open.

The way forward

Publish the back series and the linking method with each new series.
Fix a calendar for revising base years, every five years.
Move contracts and policy from the wholesale index to the producer index in step.

Prelims facts

Base years now: GDP, industrial output and wholesale prices 2022-23; consumer prices 2024.
The industrial index and consumer prices are released by the statistics ministry; wholesale and producer prices by the Office of the Economic Adviser in the commerce ministry.
The Reserve Bank's inflation target is on consumer prices, not wholesale prices.
The Index of Core Industries now has nine industries, with iron ore added.
A Producer Price Index can cover services; the wholesale index does not.

Open the lead on its own page

An index measures change against a base year. The base year fixes the basket of goods and their weights.

What changed

15 Jun 2026LeadNew numbers: the Producer Price Index and the new industrial index

Industrial output and the core industries

Prelims

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) measures the monthly output of mining, manufacturing and electricity, and the Index of Core Industries (ICI) measures the basic industries that feed it.

The National Statistics Office releases the IIP about four weeks after the month, on a 2022-23 base since the April 2026 data.
The ICI is compiled by the Office of the Economic Adviser in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade and released on the 20th of the following month.
Since July 2026 the ICI covers nine industries: coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement, electricity and, the ninth, iron ore.
The IIP's quick estimate rests on incomplete returns, so it is revised in later months.

What changed

28 Aug 2026Briefnewly addedThe IIP grew 6.7 per cent in July 2026. June's growth was revised up to 8.8 per cent from the provisional 7.3 per cent. The Hindu, 28 Aug 2026: IIP growth slows to 6.7% in July 2026, economists warn of sluggish rural consumption (opens in a new tab) · Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 28 Aug 2026: IIP press release for July 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Show history (3 other updates)

28 Sep 2026Briefnewly addedThe IIP grew 8 per cent in August 2026, led by manufacturing, while mining shrank in the monsoon. The Hindu, 28 Sep 2026: Industrial growth quickens to 8% in August (opens in a new tab)
28 Jul 2026Briefnewly addedThe IIP grew 7.3 per cent in June 2026, a provisional figure. The first ICI release on the 2022-23 base added iron ore as the ninth industry, and the nine grew 5.0 per cent in June. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 28 Jul 2026 · PIB, 20 Jul 2026: First release of the Index of Core Industries new series (opens in a new tab)
29 Jun 2026Briefnewly addedThe IIP grew 5.1 per cent in May 2026, a five month high. The Hindu, 29 Jun 2026: IIP growth quickens to five-month high of 5.1% on cross-sector improvements (opens in a new tab)

District level estimates for the unincorporated sector

Prelims

The Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) of the National Statistics Office covers unincorporated non agricultural enterprises, and it feeds the annual measurement of the informal economy.

What changed

11 Sep 2026Briefnewly addedThe National Statistics Office released, for the first time, district level estimates for unincorporated non agricultural enterprises, drawn from ASUSE. The estimates support district planning and the new GDP series. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (National Statistics Office), 11 Sep 2026

The new GDP series

Prelims and Mains

LeadThe new GDP series: growth of 7.8 per cent and the debate on the deflatorSeptember 2026

Why in news

On 31 August 2026 the National Statistics Office estimated real GDP growth of 7.8 per cent for April to June, on the new base of 2022-23. A former Finance Secretary questioned the series, and on 9 September the statistics ministry replied that its methods and data were already public.

Background

GDP is the value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a period.
Nominal GDP is at the prices of the day. Real GDP removes the effect of prices, and it is real GDP whose growth is reported.
In February 2026 the base year moved from 2011-12 to 2022-23, with new sources: tax records, the labour force survey, and a yearly survey of unincorporated enterprises.
On the new series, growth for 2025-26 is 7.8 per cent.

What the quarter showed

Services and manufacturing led. Agriculture grew slowly and mining shrank.
Investment grew faster than consumption, which points to public capital spending.

Nominal growth was 10.3 per cent and real growth 7.8 per cent. Dividing one by the other gives the implied rise in prices, about 2.3 per cent.
Growth beat the Reserve Bank's forecast, which weakens the case for a cut in interest rates.

The debate on the deflator

The implied 2.3 per cent sits beside retail inflation of about 4 per cent in the same quarter.
The critics: if prices are understated, real growth is overstated.
The ministry: output should be deflated by producer prices, not by what consumers pay.
A low deflator matters for the Budget too: taxes and the deficit ratio follow nominal GDP.

What changed in the method

Double deflation: an industry's output and its inputs are now deflated separately. Earlier one index was used for both, which distorts the result when the two prices move apart.

Producer prices in place of wholesale prices.
The informal sector is measured each year by survey, not projected from an old benchmark.

Why trust matters

Growth numbers guide interest rates, the Budget and investors.
Doubt arises when strong growth sits beside weak signals on jobs and wages.
The cure is openness: methods, back series and deflators in the public domain.

The way forward

Publish the deflator for each sector and the full back series.
Reconcile the production and expenditure estimates in the open.
An independent statistical commission with statutory backing.
Read GDP with employment and consumption data, not alone.

Prelims facts

Base year of GDP: 2022-23; before that, 2011-12.
GDP = gross value added + taxes on products − subsidies on products.
Quarterly estimates come from the National Statistics Office, about two months after the quarter.
The deflator is not published separately; it is implied by nominal and real GDP.
The survey of unincorporated enterprises covers the non farm informal sector.

Open the lead on its own page

GDP is the value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a period.

What changed

11 Sep 2026LeadThe new GDP series: growth of 7.8 per cent and the debate on the deflator

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