New GDP and CPI series likely to kick in from February 2026: Mospi

Saurabh Garg further added that the ministry is also looking for ways to tap alternative data sources, like night lights data and e-commerce prices, for its surveys

The revised base years for the national accounts -- which includes GDP -- and other macro-indicators like consumer price index (CPI) are expected to come into effect from February 2026, a top government official said on Friday.

 

“The new series for macro-indicators will be implemented from February 2026 and fiscal year 2022-23 will be the new base year for the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) data,” said Saurabh Garg, secretary, ministry of statistics and programme implementation (Mospi).

 

Garg further said that the ministry is also looking for ways to tap alternative data sources, like night lights data and e-commerce prices, for its surveys.

 

“We are working on revisions of GDP and CPI series. We are also trying to collaborate with researchers to use alternative data sources for our surveys,” said Garg.  He was addressing an event organised by Ashoka University’s Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA).

 

This will be the first base year revision of the country’s macro indicators in nearly a decade as the last such exercise was done in January 2015, when the base year for GDP was revised to 2011-12 from 2004-05. 

 

Earlier plans to revise the base were shelved as the government did away with the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey of 2017-18 citing data quality issues.

 

The 26-member Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics (ACNAS), which was constituted under the chairmanship of Biswanath Goldar, is expected to complete the exercise by early 2026.

 

Regularly updating the base year is essential to ensure that indices accurately reflect changes in the economy's structure, such as shift in consumption pattern, sector weight and the incorporation of new sectors.

 

Garg also said that the ministry will come up with monthly estimates of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) from January next year.