New PPI series: little difference now, bigger benefits later

At first glance, India’s new Producer Price Index (PPI) tells us little that we did not already know. The headline PPI has tracked the rebased Wholesale Price Index (WPI), that it is going to replace, very closely over the past two years. But the new series is designed to provide a wider set of producer price data and its benefits should grow as coverage expands over time – particularly for the services sector – and as the data are incorporated more fully into the national accounts.