Govt forms working group for revision of WPI

A working group has been constituted for the revision of current series of Wholesale Price Index (base 2011-12) under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog Member Ramesh Chand, the government said on Thursday.

The Office of Economic Adviser at Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will be the nodal office for 18-member working group and will process the recommendations for further necessary action.

The working group will select the most appropriate base year for preparation of a new official series of index numbers of Wholesale Price (WPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI).

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 WPI," according to an official statement.

The working group will review commodity basket of the current series of WPI and suggest changes of commodities. It will review the existing system of price collection -- in particular for manufacturing sector -- and suggest changes for improvement.

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