Base-Year Revision: The Statistical Earthquake India Is Walking Into in 2026
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- January 1, 2026
- Capital Journal, India
- 0 Comments
Key highlights
- MoSPI held consultative workshops on revising base years for GDP, CPI, and IIP—a major measurement reset. Press Information Bureau+1
- The new series schedule is explicitly indicated: new CPI series (base 2024=100) on 12 Feb 2026, GDP series on 27 Feb 2026, IIP series on 28 May 2026. Stats & Programme Ministry
- Base revisions change comparisons—yesterday’s “high/low” can look different under a new base. Press Information Bureau+1
Base-year revisions sound technical, but they are quietly transformative. They decide how the country measures itself. In late 2025, MoSPI convened consultative workshops specifically focused on revising the base years for GDP, CPI, and IIP—an institutional signal that India wants its macro lens to reflect newer consumption and production realities. Press Information Bureau+1
What makes this particularly newsworthy is the clarity on timing. The official MoSPI/PIB-linked document points to the expected release schedule for the new series: CPI with base year 2024=100 is scheduled for 12 February 2026, followed by the new national accounts series on 27 February 2026, and the revised IIP series on 28 May 2026. Stats & Programme Ministry This is not just an academic exercise; it’s an event calendar for how “growth” and “inflation” will be talked about next year.
For readers, the practical implication is simple: comparisons will need care. Base revisions can reshape trendlines—sometimes subtly, sometimes materially—because weights, data sources, and classification frameworks evolve. When the base changes, the story of “what got expensive” and “what grew” can be re-weighted to better match current life, not life a decade ago.
For editors and commentators, base revision is a moment to adopt intellectual honesty: resist sensational claims, explain what changes and why, and be transparent that the “new” and “old” series may not be perfectly comparable without adjustment.
In 2026, the smartest coverage won’t declare winners. It will teach readers how to interpret a reset—calmly, correctly, and without turning statistics into theatre.
