RBI Governor hails base year revision of key indicators

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra has welcomed the National Statistical Office’s (NSO) decision under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) to revise the base year of key macroeconomic indicators Consumer Price Index (CPI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) , saying the move will help reflect changing consumption patterns and economic structures and support better-calibrated monetary policy and economic growth .

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is undertaking a revision of the base year of key macroeconomic indicators that play a vital role in policymaking at the RBI, the Governor said in a video message posted on X by MoSPI.

“This exercise is not merely a revision in the base year, but it also covers revisions in methods, weights, item baskets, data sources and computation techniques,” Malhotra said.

He noted that CPI is especially important for monetary policy purposes , as it anchors the RBI’s flexible inflation-targeting framework . “Updating the base year of CPI will ensure that the index reflects the consumption patterns and household spending more accurately, as they have obviously changed over a period of time,” he said.

Similarly, Malhotra said GDP figures are very important to the RBI , as they need to capture the evolving structure of the Indian economy. “The economy has transformed and changed, with the rising role of services, digital activities and various new business models,” he said.

On the revision of the IIP base year , the RBI Governor said it would help improve assessments of the underlying momentum in the real economy .

“Overall, I would like to congratulate the MoSPI. It is a very timely and a very welcome step. Strengthening our statistical systems will facilitate more calibrated policies. It will help us sustain both price stability and economic growth. I wish all the very best to the MoSPI and all the stakeholders in this endeavour,” Malhotra said.

According to MoSPI, the new GDP series with base year 2022–23 will be released on February 27, 2026 . The new CPI series with base year 2024 will be released on February 12, 2026 , while the new IIP series with base year 2022–23 is scheduled for release on May 28, 2026 .

The revision comes in the backdrop of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) grading India at ‘C’ on national accounts in late 2025 , citing outdated data, with the base year perceived to be outdated.

Earlier, Saurabh Garg , Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, said the government is revising the base year for national accounts to better reflect structural changes in the economy , evolving consumption patterns and the rapid expansion of the digital economy over the past decade.

“Over the past 10 years, the structure of the economy has changed. The type of products that are consumed by people has changed, and the digital economy has grown much bigger,” Garg had said.