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A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) constituted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has recommended a phased rollout of the proposed Index of Services Production (ISP), with both the overall index and sub-sectoral indices to be released initially on a trial basis before regular publication.
The committee, in its report released by MoSPI on Tuesday, recommended that the trial series be used to gather stakeholder feedback, validate the methodology against quarterly and annual datasets, and assess the resilience of the indices before full-scale implementation. "MoSPI embarks on compilation of the Index of Services Production (ISP) as a high-frequency indicator for the services sector representing more than 50 per cent of Gross Value Added (GVA) contribution," the ministry said while releasing the report. The report also recommended compiling the index using 2024-25 as the base year, adopting a Laspeyres volume index methodology and aggregating sectoral indices using Gross Value Added (GVA) weights. It further suggested releasing the monthly index within 60 days of the reference month to provide a timely measure of activity in India's services sector. According to the report, the proposed ISP will, for the first time, provide a monthly indicator of short-term movements in India's formal services economy, complementing the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The services sector currently contributes nearly 53 per cent of India's Gross Value Added, making it the country's largest economic sector. The committee recommended that the index primarily use aggregated Goods and Services Tax (GST) data to measure production across market-based services such as trade, hospitality, telecommunications, professional services and real estate. For sectors outside the GST framework, including health, education, parts of transport, banking and insurance, the index will rely on administrative datasets and other official data sources. "The proposed ISP represents an important milestone in strengthening India's statistical system and improving the measurement of the services sector, which accounts for more than half of the country's economic activity," the report said. MoSPI said the trial series of the Index of Services Production will be released on July 14, 2026. The new index is expected to provide policymakers, businesses and investors with a high-frequency indicator to track trends in India's services economy and complement existing measures of industrial activity. (ANI)
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