Govt to soon come out with new IIP

NEW DELHI: Keeping pace with the rapidly changing income and consumption pattern, the government will soon come out with a new Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and develop indices for measuring growth of SSI sector and calculating consumer prices in urban areas.

"The new IIP is under examination and has already been sent to renowned economists for their comments. We will release it soon after receiving their comments and incorporating necessary changes," Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) additional director general P K Ray said on Friday.

In addition to the new IIP, the government is also proposing to come out with two indices for small scale industry (SSI) and Consumer Price Index for the urban areas (CPU) replacing the CPI (Urban Non-Manual Employees) index.

The new IIP will have more than 800 item groups as compared to about 400 in the earlier index, Ray said, adding that "the base year for the new IIP will be 1999-2000 as against 1993-94 for the existing one."

The new IIP, he said, will exclude items that are not in vogue and include those which have gained currency in the recent past. Weightage to the items, he said, would be given in accordance with their share in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

As regards the CPI for urban areas being worked out by the government, chief statistician of India Pronab Sen said, it will help in measuring price rise in urban areas.

When asked whether the WPI was reflecting the true state of price rise, Sen said, "It is a fact that WPI does not reflect consumer prices. One needs to look at CPI, which is announced every month, to see price behaviour at the consumer end."