When the base year of All-India WPI has been revised from 2004-05 to 2011-12?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 1:

The revision of the base year for the All-India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) from 2004-05 to 2011-12 was officially implemented in May 2017. This revision was a crucial step taken by the Government of India, primarily through the Office of the Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), to ensure that the index accurately reflects the current structure and composition of the economy, manufacturing sector, and wholesale price movements. The WPI is a key measure of inflation in India, tracking price changes of goods at the wholesale level. Updating the base year is essential because as an economy evolves, the consumption and production basket changes, and using an outdated base year can lead to distorted or inaccurate inflation measurements. The shift to 2011-12 was part of a regular process to modernize the country's economic statistics.

The incorrect option is 2 (May 2013): This date is too early. While discussions and preparatory work for the base year revision might have been underway around this time, the official announcement and implementation of the revised 2011-12 series did not take place until 2017.

The incorrect option is 3 (May 2015): Although a revision was due, 2015 was not the year the new series with the 2011-12 base year was introduced. The process of compiling the new index and its weight distribution was still ongoing during this period.

The incorrect option is 4 (May 2018): This date is too late. The revised WPI series with the 2011-12 base year was already launched and in use by May 2018, having been officially introduced the previous year.