GDP, retail inflation base years to be changed to 2017-18 and 2018

The government will change the base year for calculation of GDP and retail inflation to 2017-18 and 2018 respectively, which is likely to come to effect by 2019-20.

The last base year for GDP, IIP and consumer price index was revised to 2011-12 and 2012 (for inflation), Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation Sadananda Gowda said on Tuesday.

"The revisions facilitated more accurate assessment of the progress of the economy and the society. Steps are being initiated for the next round of revision also, for GDP we would like to revise the base year to 2017-18 and base year for consumer retail inflation to 2018," Gowda told reporters.

Enlisting the achievements of the NDA government in past four years, Gowda said fundamental principles of the United Nations were adopted in 2016 to calculate official statistics.

The minister sought to discredit the debate that the government has changed the GDP and CPI calculation methodologies among others to suit its needs.

"These principles are aimed at promoting good practices and professional ethics in production and dissemination of official statistics," he said further.