India to revise WPI base year to 2022-23, launch Producer Price Index
Synopsis
India is overhauling its inflation measurement system from the ground up — revising the WPI base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23 and introducing the Producer Price Index for the first time. With GDP, CPI, and IIP already re-based, this is the final piece of a statistical modernisation that will reshape how policymakers, the RBI, and markets read India's price signals.
Key Takeaways
The government will revise the WPI base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23 , aligning it with recently updated GDP, CPI, and IIP series.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) will be launched alongside the revised WPI, measuring price changes at the producer level.
MoSPI Secretary Saurabh Garg confirmed that updated WPI deflators have already been used internally in the revised April IIP data.
The switch from WPI to output PPI will be phased — the government will first study the new series for stability before wider adoption.
The existing WPI will continue as a deflator until the updated series is publicly available.
A formal media briefing on the revision is scheduled for Tuesday , to be addressed by DPIIT Principal Economic Adviser Praveen Mahto .
The Indian government is set to revise the base year of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) from 2011-12 to 2022-23 and simultaneously launch the Producer Price Index (PPI), marking a landmark overhaul of the country's inflation measurement architecture. The announcement was confirmed ahead of a formal media briefing scheduled for Tuesday, to be addressed by DPIIT Principal Economic Adviser Praveen Mahto.
What Is Changing and Why
The current WPI series has used 2011-12 as its base year for over a decade, making it increasingly out of step with the structural shifts in India's economy. The revised series will anchor to 2022-23, aligning it with a broader statistical modernisation drive that has already updated the GDP base year to 2022-23, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) base year to 2024, and the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) base year to 2022-23.
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) Secretary Saurabh Garg confirmed that the updated WPI deflators with the new base year had already been used internally while compiling value-reported items in the revised IIP data. 'We have used WPI 2022-23 data, which has been made available internally to us, so that we do not have to make modifications to the April IIP data, which we expect to be available in the public domain within the next few weeks,' Garg said.
The Producer Price Index: A New Metric on the Horizon
Alongside the WPI revision, MoSPI plans to introduce the Producer Price Index (PPI) — a measure that tracks price changes for goods and services at the point of sale between producers, rather than at the wholesale stage. The PPI is widely used by advanced economies and is considered a more comprehensive gauge of producer-level inflation.
Garg clarified, however, that the transition from WPI to output PPI will not be immediate. The government intends to first assess the stability and reliability of the new PPI series before adopting it for wider official use. He also noted that the divergence between WPI and output PPI in India is not expected to be substantial, given the methodology already embedded in WPI calculations.
Phased Rollout, Not an Overnight Switch
Officials have been explicit that the existing WPI will continue to function as a deflator until the updated series is fully validated and made public. An earlier government statement noted: 'Until the updated WPI becomes available, the existing WPI will continue to be used as a deflator.' This phased approach is designed to prevent disruption to data-dependent policy decisions, including those by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and sectoral ministries.
The IIP revision, released a day before the WPI announcement, had already incorporated the new WPI deflators internally — signalling that the groundwork for the transition is well advanced, even if the public rollout follows a careful timeline.
India's Broader Statistical Modernisation Push
The WPI and PPI overhaul is the latest milestone in what the government described in February as a 'comprehensive modernisation' of India's statistical system. With four major indices now being re-based to more recent reference years, the aim is to give policymakers, investors, and businesses a more accurate read of the economy's current structure — one that reflects post-pandemic supply chains, energy price dynamics, and the expanding services sector.
As the formal launch approaches, the focus will shift to how smoothly the new indices are adopted by industry bodies, financial institutions, and trade negotiators who currently rely on WPI as a reference benchmark in contracts and pricing formulas.
Point of View
Pre-pandemic economy with a radically different energy and supply-chain profile. The more consequential move, however, is the PPI introduction: most advanced economies abandoned WPI-style indices precisely because they blur the line between producer costs and trade margins. The real question is whether the PPI will eventually displace WPI in RBI's inflation monitoring toolkit and in commercial contracts that currently index to WPI. The government's cautious 'study stability first' language suggests that shift is years away — but the direction is now irreversible.
NationPress
18 Jul 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the WPI base year revision India is planning?
The government is updating the Wholesale Price Index base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23 to better reflect the current structure of the Indian economy. This aligns WPI with the recently revised GDP, CPI, and IIP base years, all of which have shifted to 2022-23 or 2024.
What is the Producer Price Index (PPI) and how is it different from WPI?
The Producer Price Index measures price changes for goods and services at the point of transaction between producers, offering a more granular view of price pressures than the WPI. Unlike WPI, which captures prices at the wholesale stage, PPI tracks both input and output prices across the production chain, making it a preferred measure in most advanced economies.
Will the WPI be replaced by the PPI immediately?
No. MoSPI Secretary Saurabh Garg has clarified that the transition from WPI to output PPI will be phased. The government will first assess the stability and reliability of the new PPI series before adopting it for wider use, and the existing WPI will continue as a deflator in the interim.
Why is the divergence between WPI and PPI expected to be small in India?
According to Saurabh Garg, the divergence between WPI and output PPI is not expected to be substantial because India's existing WPI methodology already incorporates elements that bring it closer to a producer-price framework. However, the government has not released detailed comparisons ahead of the formal launch.
How does this fit into India's broader statistical modernisation?
The WPI revision and PPI launch are the latest steps in a comprehensive overhaul that the government flagged in February. India has already revised the GDP base year to 2022-23, the CPI base year to 2024, and the IIP base year to 2022-23, with the WPI update completing the major re-basing cycle.
