The wholesale price index will change shortly

- Recommendation to present indexes of banking, insurance, securities, air transport, telecom and railway sectors

Soon many products like Green Tea, Solar Energy, Sanitizer, Corn Flakes, Brown Rice, Mushroom, Watermelon, Wicket Keeping Gloves, Flute, Electric Iron, Aloe Vera are in the Revised Wholesale Price Index (WPI). This index, which shows the picture of inflation, will change and will be based on 2015-16 instead of 2011-12.

According to the draft report of the WPI Revision Working Group, the number of products included in the index is likely to increase from the current 9 to 1.15, which will further enrich the index. The share of the food index in the WPI index is expected to increase from the current 5 per cent to 5 per cent. The share of fuel and energy could be reduced to 11 per cent from 12 per cent in the 2011-12 series. The high-level group has also recommended the release of total business service price index for banking, insurance, securities, air transport, telecom and railways.

The base year for the current WPI is 2011-12. The number of products involved is limited, so it fails to fully cover the changes in production trends in recent years. The expanded product basket can help find more products that have changed the way they are used over the years. In such a situation, a clear picture of inflation will emerge. The product is mostly subject to consumption.

The draft report states, ‘The products in the revised range have been selected on the basis of their relative importance in the economy. All the important products with significant value in the product have been selected. '

Agricultural products include medicinal plants such as isabgol, aloe vera and menthol, anise and fenugreek (spices), math (lentils), mushrooms (vegetables) and watermelon (fruits). Leafy vegetables are excluded due to technical difficulties in securing prices. The prices of leafy vegetables are difficult to collect as they are only available in a particular season. They usually do not buy and sell on a scale like kilogram and do not show uniformity in varieties. The government is pushing for renewable energy so the revised WPI will also include a change in the price of solar energy. Considered for wind energy index but not taken into account due to availability of data for base year.

The country now has a measure of retail inflation, but because of the old WPI that is still considered a broad measure of inflation in prices. WPI helps compile national accounting statistics. It is also widely used in acceleration clauses in procurement of raw materials, plant and machinery, construction, infrastructure projects. So it is also adopted in determining the toll rate, prices of essential medicines, tariff rates for major ports, electricity etc. Thus, the change in it will now give a glimpse of the real situation at many levels.