Panel to suggest road map for Producer Price Index

To revise WPI base year as well; Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand will lead committee

- Mukesh Jagota

THE GOVERNMENT ON Thursday announced the formation of a panel of experts to revise the base year of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and suggest a road map for switching over to Producer Price Index (PPI).

The working group for revision of base year of WPI to 2022-23 from 2011-12 and to decide on computational methodology to be adopted for WPI and PPI will be headed by Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand and will have 17 other members. The working group has been asked to submit its final report to the economic adviser at the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) within 18 months.

Till the PPI stabilises, both WPI and PPI will run concurrently. All major economies like the US, China, Japan, Germany and France use PPI to measure the average changes in prices received by domestic producers for their output. Globally PPI tracks prices of both goods and services.