Revised Wholesale Price Index and new Producer Price Indices scheduled for release on June 15

 

 

THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU

NEW DELHI, JUNE 2, 2026

In a significant step towards modernizing India’s inflation measurement framework and aligning it with global best practices, the Government of India has approved the revision of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23 and the introduction of a comprehensive set of Producer Price Indices (PPIs). The revised WPI series and new PPI framework will be officially released on June 15, 2026, by the Office of the Economic Adviser under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

The decision was approved by the competent authority on May 25, 2026, following recommendations from the Technical Advisory Committee on Statistics of Price and Cost of Living and subsequent presentation before the National Statistical Commission.

The revised WPI series, with 2022-23 as the new base year, will replace the existing 2011-12 series and feature substantial improvements in coverage, methodology and data quality. Alongside the new WPI, the government will launch the Output Producer Price Index (OPPI), Trial Input Producer Price Index (IPPI), and Service Producer Price Indices for seven key service sectors — banking, securities transactions, insurance, pension fund management, railways, air passenger transport and telecommunications.

The move marks a gradual transition from WPI to PPI as the principal indicator of producer-level inflation. Recognizing the extensive use of WPI in commercial contracts and price-escalation clauses, the government will continue publishing both the old and new frameworks for five years, allowing businesses and stakeholders sufficient time to adapt. The shift is in line with recommendations of the International Monetary Fund and mirrors practices followed by advanced economies worldwide.

The Producer Price Indices are expected to provide deeper insights into inflationary trends by capturing price movements from the producer’s perspective. While Output PPI reflects prices received by producers for goods and services sold, Input PPI measures prices paid for inputs used in production, enabling policymakers and businesses to assess how input cost pressures are transmitted to final output prices.

One of the most notable enhancements in the revised WPI is the expansion of the commodity basket from 697 items to 957 items, significantly broadening market representation. The new series also incorporates renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, along with nuclear electricity, under the electricity category, reflecting the evolving structure of India’s energy economy.

In another major structural change, crude petroleum and natural gas have been shifted from the ‘Primary Articles’ category to the ‘Fuel and Power’ group, creating a more coherent framework for tracking energy price movements alongside coal, electricity and petroleum products.

The methodology for assigning weights has also undergone a significant overhaul. The revised WPI uses Gross Value of Output (GVO) as the basis for determining commodity weights, replacing the earlier Net Traded Value approach. Officials said the change better captures the economic importance of commodities from the producer’s standpoint by emphasizing domestic production.

Further strengthening the index, the government has introduced chain-based short-term index compilation methods, replacing the earlier long-term formulation. The revised series also adopts the ‘Targeted Mean Imputation’ technique for handling missing price data, improving statistical robustness over the previous carry-forward method.

To ensure continuity between the old and new series, a linking factor based on the geometric mean of twelve months’ indices for the financial year 2024-25 has been developed for all commodities and major groups.

The government will release the revised WPI and Output PPI for May 2026, along with back-series data from April 2023 to April 2026. The Trial Input PPI for the manufacturing sector will be published monthly from March 2026 on an experimental basis to facilitate stakeholder feedback and assess data quality. Meanwhile, the Service PPI, compiled quarterly, will be released for the fourth quarter of FY 2025-26 along with historical data beginning from the first quarter of FY 2023-24.

The weights for Output PPI and Input PPI have been derived from the Supply and Use Tables of the National Accounts for 2022-23. While WPI, Output PPI and Service PPI are based on basic prices that exclude taxes and trade margins, the Input PPI has been designed using purchasers’ prices, reflecting actual market costs incurred by industries.

Economists and industry observers view the transition as a landmark reform that will enhance the accuracy of inflation measurement, improve policy analysis and provide businesses with more relevant indicators for pricing, cost management and contract negotiations in an increasingly complex economy.