The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has kicked off a comprehensive exercise to revise the base year for three of the country’s most closely tracked economic indicators — Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The move is aimed at making official data more relevant, accurate and aligned with global standards.
At its core, the base-year revision is about keeping statistics in sync with a rapidly changing economy. MoSPI said the overhaul will bring in methodological upgrades, incorporate newer and richer data sources, and update weights to better reflect current consumption and production patterns. In simple terms: the numbers will do a better job of telling today’s economic story, not yesterday’s.
The revision process is being guided by specialised Technical Advisory Committees comprising experts from academia, central and state governments, the Reserve Bank of India and other institutions, ensuring the changes are grounded in both expertise and transparency.
Timelines are already in place. The new CPI series will be released on February 12, 2026, followed by the updated GDP series on February 27, 2026. The revised IIP series is slated to be rolled out in May 2026.
MoSPI also underlined that both GDP and CPI adhere to the International Monetary Fund’s Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS), which lay down benchmarks for coverage, frequency, timeliness, public access, data integrity and quality — a reminder of India’s commitment to global best practices in economic reporting.The update was shared by Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Statistics and Programme Implementation, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
For policymakers, investors and analysts alike, the revamp promises a sharper, more contemporary view of how the Indian economy is really performing — and where it’s headed next.