New Delhi, January 2 (IANS). The government on Thursday announced that a working group has been formed under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand to revise the base of the current series of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) from 2011-12 to 2022-23.
The working group has been asked to submit its final report to the Office of the Economic Advisor within 18 months.
Members of the Working Group include representatives from RBI, Department of Economic Affairs of the Finance Ministry, Ministry of Statistics, Department of Consumer Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Apart from this, State Bank of India (SBI) Chief Economist Soumya Kanti Ghosh has also been appointed as its member.
The non-official members include economist Surjit Bhalla, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council member Shamika Ravi, Crisil chief economist Dharamkirti Joshi, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management MD Nilesh Shah and Bank of America Merrill Lynch co-head and economist Indranil Sengupta. .
The Working Group will also work on topics such as suggestions for commodity baskets of WPI and PPI (Producer Price Index) with the base year 2022-23 in the context of structural changes in the economy.
The working group will review the existing system of price collection and suggest improvements.
It will also decide on the calculation methodology to be adopted for WPI/PPI and examine the methodology of collection of PPI as approved by the Technical Advisory Committee on Prices and Cost of Living Statistics, suggest further improvements in compilation and presentation. Will recommend a roadmap for switching from WPI to PPI.
The Working Group will further examine the method of calculating the linking factor adopted so far. If necessary, it will suggest appropriate changes in the method of calculation of linking factor.
Further, the Working Group may suggest any other improvements required to enhance the credibility of WPI/PPI.
The Chair of the Working Group is permitted to select experts from other agencies if necessary.
–IANS
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