Government to constitute working group for revision of Wholesale Price Index

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New Delhi: The government on Thurday said that it has decided to constitute a working group for the revision of the current series of Wholesale Price Index (Base 2011-12).

The current series of WPI with 2011-12 as base year was introduced in May 2017.

"Since 2011-12, significant structural changes have taken place in the economy. Therefore, it has become necessary to examine the coverage of commodities, weighting diagram and related issues pertaining to the existing series of index numbers of Wholesale Price Index," an official release said.

The Office of Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade will be the nodal office for the Working Group and will process the report and recommendation of the Group for further necessary action.

The Terms of Reference of the Working Group will be to select the most appropriate Base Year for the preparation of a new official series of Index Numbers of Wholesale Price (WPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) in India.

The Working Group will also review commodity basket of the current series of WPI and suggest additions or deletions of commodities in the light of structural changes in the economy witnessed since 2011-12. It will review the existing system of price collection in particular for manufacturing sector and suggest changes for improvement and decide on the computational methodology to be adopted for monthly WPI/PPI.

Besides it will examine the existing methodology of compilation of PPI approved by Technical Advisory Committee on Series of Prices and Cost of Living and suggest further improvement in compilation and presentation. The Working Group may recommend roadmap for switch over from WPI to PPI.

It will examine the method of computing linking factor adopted so far and suggest appropriate change in method of computing linking factor, if necessary and suggest any other improvements as may be necessary for enhancing the reliability of the official series of WPI/PPI.

The 18-member Working Group will be formed under the Chairmanship of Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member, NitiAayog. Other members of the panel include Additional Director General, Economics and Statistics Division, National Statistical Office; Additional Director General, Field Operation Division, National Statistical Office; Deputy Director General, National Accounts Division, National Statistical Office; Deputy Director General, Industrial Statistics Wing, National Statistical Office; Economic Adviser, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance; Economic & Statistical Adviser, Department of  Agriculture; Senior Economic Adviser, Department of Consumer Affairs; Senior Economic Adviser, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas; Additional Commissioner, Tax Policy Research Unit, Ministry of Finance; Representative from RBI; Dr. SoumyaKanti Ghosh, Chief Economist, SBI Group; Dr. Surjit Bhalla, Economist; Dr. Shamika Ravi, Member, Economic Advisory Council to PM; Dr. Dharmakirti Joshi, Chief Economist, Crisil; Shri Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management; IndranilSengupta, Co-Head & Economist, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Economic Adviser, Officer of Economic Adviser.