New-look Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) were unveiled on May 12, 2017. It has been built on the new series of data and is thereby reflecting a healthier picture of the Indian economy in 2016-17 as compared to the old series.
Shifting of Base Year:
The base year for the Indexes in the new series is 2011-12. In the previous series, the base year was 2004-05. The revision of the base year has been done after a period of 8 years.
TCA Anant, the Chief Statistician of India who heads the National Statistical Commission (NSC) of India has mentioned that attempts will be made to revise the series more frequently and a technical review committee has been established which will identify new items to be included so as to keep the series relevant.
About New Series IIP:
- The new series of the IIP has 809 items as compared to 620 items in old series.
- Items such as cement clinkers, prefabricated concrete blocks, steroids and refined palm oilhave been added in the new series, whereas items like calculators, colour TV picture tubes, and gutka have been removed.
- In the new series, manufacturing sector has been accorded 6% weightage as compared to 75.5% in old series. Weightage of mining has been reduced to 14.1% from 14.3%. Weightage of electricity too has been reduced to 7.9% from 10.3%.
About New Series WPI:
- The new series of the WPI has 697 items as compared to 676 items in old series.
- New vegetables and fruits such as radish, carrot, cucumber, bitter gourd, mosambi (sweet lime), pomegranate, jackfruit, and pear have been added to the list of primary articles.
- In the mineral group, items like copper concentrate, lead concentrate and garnet have
been added whereas copper ore, gypsum, kaolin, dolomite, and magnesite have been removed. Natural gas has been added as a new item. - In the manufacturing items list, around 173 new items including conveyer belt, rubber tread, steel cables, tissue paper, and wooden splint have been added, while 135 items like khandsari (unrefined raw white sugar), poppadom, and video CD players have been removed.
- Weightage of manufactured items, fuel and power has decreased, whereas weightage for primary articles has increased.
been added whereas copper ore, gypsum, kaolin, dolomite, and magnesite have been removed. Natural gas has been added as a new item.