Govt mulls change in base year for computation of GDP to 2022-23 from 2011-12

The government is considering to change the base year for computation of the GDP to 2022-23, from 2011-12 at present, to reflect an accurate picture of the economy, sources said on Thursday.

This will be the first revision in over a decade. It was last done in 2011-12, they said.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is likely to make a suggestion for accepting 2022-23 as a base year to the Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics (ACNAS), they said.

The 26-member ACNAS, which was constituted under the Chairmanship of Biswanath Goldar, is expected to complete the exercise by early 2026.

The estimates of the new base are likely to be released in February 2026, sources said.

"... Considering the major data source availability such as ASUSE (Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises), HCES (Household Consumption Expenditure Survey) from NAS (National Accounts Statistics), MoSPI will place 2022-23 as next base for consideration of ACNAS," they said.

As per sources, in the new computation some items like lanterns, VCRs, recorders will be removed and products like smart watches, phones and processed food items will be added.

The GST data is a new data source that could be used in GDP computation.

In addition to this, a number of studies have been conducted to update the rates and ratios used in computation of GDP and therefore will improve the computation, sources said.

The government is also taking various other measures to improve the statistical system for a strong data governance which reflects a better and accurate picture of informal sectors.

Sources said a pilot survey is underway to see the feasibility for conducting Annual Survey of Service Sector Enterprises (ASSSE) based on GSTN based sampling frame. There are several forthcoming surveys to be undertaken by NSSO (National Sample Survey Office), MOSPI.

The surveys to be conducted during 2024-25 and 2025-26 are Domestic Tourism expenditure Survey, National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), Full-fledged survey on Health, Survey on Education related indicators. Forward looking Survey on Private sector CAPEX.

While in 2026-27, the survey on Living Condition of Tribes in India, All India Debt and Investment Survey, Situation Assessment Survey will be undertaken, they said.

Last month, Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation Rao Inderjit Singh has called for the cooperation of stakeholders in improving the quality, timeliness and relevance of data in the process of governance.