The Government of India has approved the revision of the base year for the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) from 2011–12 to 2022–23 and has also cleared the compilation of new Producer Price Indices (PPIs). 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 discussions at the National Statistical Commission.
The Office of the Economic Adviser under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will officially release the revised WPI series with the new base year of 2022–23 on June 15, 2026, at 12 noon. This new series will replace the current WPI series based on 2011–12.
Alongside the revised WPI, the government will introduce several new Producer Price Indices, including the Output Producer Price Index (OPPI), a Trial Input Producer Price Index (IPPI), and Service Producer Price Indices for seven sectors—Banking, Securities Transactions, Insurance, Pension Fund Management, Railways, Air Passenger Transport, and Telecommunications.
To ensure a smooth transition, both the WPI and the newly introduced PPIs will be published together for five years. After this period, the WPI will be discontinued. The move aligns India’s price measurement framework with international best practices and recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), enabling a more comprehensive understanding of producer-level inflation and cost pressures.
The revised WPI and Output PPI will be released monthly, starting with provisional data for May 2026, along with historical data from April 2023 to April 2026. The Trial Input PPI for the manufacturing sector will be published experimentally from March 2026 onward to assess data quality and gather stakeholder feedback. Service PPIs, compiled quarterly, will be released beginning with provisional estimates for the fourth quarter of 2025–26, along with back-series data from the first quarter of 2023–24.
Key Features of the New WPI Series (Base Year 2022–23)
- The number of commodities covered has increased significantly from 697 to 957 items.
- Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power have been included under the Electricity category, while nuclear power has also been added to the basket.
- Crude petroleum and natural gas have been shifted from the Primary Articles group to the Fuel and Power category, creating a more integrated framework for tracking energy prices.
- Commodity weights are now based on Gross Value of Output (GVO), replacing the earlier Net Traded Value approach. This change better reflects the importance of commodities from a producer’s perspective.
- A chain-based short-term methodology has been adopted for compiling elementary indices, replacing the earlier long-term formulation method.
- Missing price data will now be estimated using the Targeted Mean Imputation method instead of the carry-forward approach.
- Linking factors have been developed using the ratio of geometric means of the old and new series for the financial year 2024–25, enabling comparison between the two series.
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 calculated using basic prices that exclude taxes and trade margins, the Input PPI is based on purchaser prices, reflecting the actual costs paid by industries for inputs.
The revised framework is expected to provide a more accurate and modern measure of price movements across India’s economy, improving inflation analysis and policy decision-making.
