"MoSPI Releases National Accounts Statistics 2026 with New Base Year"
Base Year
The reference year against which real (inflation-adjusted) economic growth is measured in national accounts.
Producer Price Index (PPI)
A price index measuring prices received by domestic producers, used as a deflator in national accounts in place of WPI.
National income accounting is the systematic process of measuring a country's economic output, income, and expenditure over a defined period. In India, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is the nodal agency responsible for compiling and publishing national accounts data. The Central Statistics Office (CSO), now merged into MoSPI, has periodically revised the base year of national accounts to reflect structural changes in the economy. Past base-year shifts, from 1980-81 to 1993-94, then to 2004-05, and subsequently to 2011-12, each brought methodological improvements aligned with international standards set by the System of National Accounts (SNA).
The shift to a new base year is not merely a statistical exercise. It recalibrates the price weights used to measure real (inflation-adjusted) growth, updates the commodity baskets that underlie price indices, and incorporates new data sources from administrative records. Each revision therefore changes both the level and the growth rate of GDP, sometimes significantly. The Producer Price Index (PPI), the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), and the Banking Services Price Index (BkSPI) are three key input indicators whose quality directly affects the accuracy of GDP estimates across sectors.
The National Accounts Statistics – 2026 (NAS-2026) publication, released by MoSPI, adopts base year 2022-23 for national accounts. It presents sixty statements covering national income, production, expenditure, and macroeconomic aggregates. The publication incorporates Final Estimates for 2022-23 and 2023-24, First Revised Estimates (FRE) for 2024-25, and Provisional Estimates (PE) for 2025-26, along with quarterly GDP estimates from 2022-23 to 2025-26.
A central methodological change is the replacement of the old Wholesale Price Index (WPI) with the new PPI (base: 2022-23) as the primary price deflator in several sectors. The PPI is conceptually superior to the WPI for national accounts purposes because it measures prices at the producer level and covers a broader, updated commodity basket that includes emerging items and drops obsolete ones. …
Which of the following activities constitute real sector in the economy?
1.Farmers harvesting their crops
2.Textile mills converting raw cotton into fabrics
3.A commercial bank lending money to a trading company
4.A corporate body issuing Rupee Denominated Bonds overseas
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Increase in absolute and per capita real GNP do not connote a higher level of economic development, if
Faster economic growth requires increased share of the manufacturing sector in GDP, particularly of MSMEs. Comment on the present policies of the Government in this regard.
'Economic growth in the recent past has been led by increase in labour productivity.' Explain this statement. Suggest the growth pattern that will lead to creation of more jobs without compromising labour productivity.
Consider the following statements regarding the National Accounts Statistics – 2026 (NAS-2026) released by MoSPI:
1.It adopts 2022-23 as the new base year for national accounts.
2.The Producer Price Index (PPI) replaces the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) as a price deflator in sectors such as manufacturing and trade services.
3.The Banking Services Price Index (BkSPI) with base year 2022-23 enables measurement of the actual physical volume of banking services.
4.The revised constant-price GDP growth rate for 2025-26 (Provisional Estimate) is 8.6%.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Consider the following pairs:
Index — Base Year adopted in NAS-2026
1.Producer Price Index (PPI) — 2022-23
2.Index of Industrial Production (IIP) — 2011-12
3.Banking Services Price Index (BkSPI) — 2022-23
4.Wholesale Price Index (WPI) — 2022-23
How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
With reference to India's national accounts methodology, which of the following best explains why the Producer Price Index (PPI) is considered superior to the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) as a price deflator for GDP estimation?
Consider the following statements about GDP revisions in India's National Accounts Statistics – 2026:
1.The constant-price GDP growth rate for 2023-24 was revised upward from 7.2% to 7.3%.
2.The constant-price GDP growth rate for 2024-25 (First Revised Estimate) was revised upward from 7.1% to 7.2%.
3.The constant-price GDP growth rate for 2025-26 (Provisional Estimate) was revised downward from 7.7% to 7.8%.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
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