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Informist, Tuesday, Jul. 7, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – A panel working on services production indices has recommended releasing data on an experimental basis initially because of volatility in goods and services tax data for a few categories and sub-sectors being tracked in the indices, according to a report. The committee, formed by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, made this suggestion to observe trends and stability of the indices, the report by the technical advisory committee on the Index of Services Production said Tuesday.

 

The panel proposed that these volatile categories and sub-sectors, if required, could be grouped together to avoid fluctuations in reporting the Index of Services Production. "The compilation of an ISP (Index of Services Production) requires high-frequency, reliable and representative data of service sector output," the report said. "Services are largely intangible, and many service activities do not have directly observable output measures."

 

"The release of ISP on trial/experimental basis was more appropriate than continuing without an ISP," the committee said in the report. The aim of the Index of Services Production is to provide more timely insight into the services sector. The index holds significance as the services sector contributes more than half of India's gross value added.

 

The statistics ministry will release the experimental indices on Jul. 14. The new index, with 2024-25 (Apr-Mar) as the base year, will be released for April and FY26, the ministry had said earlier.

 

The experimental indices will primarily reflect India's formal sector, tracking GST, the Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises, and administrative data. Some of the services excluded from the indices as of now are public administration and defence, financial services activities of the Reserve Bank of India, and money market funds, activities of private households with employed persons, and gambling and betting activities. These services have been excluded from the scope of ISP due to lack of coverage under different data sources.

 

The committee expects the recommended methodological framework of the ISP to improve over time with improved availability of administrative data and preferred deflators of the recently-launched Service Producer Price Indices. The panel has also recommended that the Index of Services Production be released about 60 days from the end of the reference month, considering the nearly 45-day lag in availability of monthly GST data.

 

Meanwhile, the panel emphasised the intensification of efforts towards developing and releasing the Service Producer Price Indices for all major service sub-sectors. The expansion of the Service Producer Price Indices will help in reducing the dependency on proxy deflators such as the consumer price index and wholesale price index. With this, the "frequency of compilation of ISP may be made monthly," the report said.

The committee also suggested that the monthly trial indices be released for all services sub-sectors. In the case of financial sub–sectors – banking and insurance - a suitable methodology could be used for arriving at monthly indices, after studying the shares of monthly and quarterly data and the pattern of their movements, the report said.  End

 

Reported by Shweta

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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