Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Chaudhuri committee on WPI facing difficulties with Producer Price Index-Nayanima Basu & Sanjeeb Mukherjee

Chaudhuri committee on WPI facing difficulties with Producer Price Index-Nayanima Basu & Sanjeeb Mukherjee

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Dec 27, 2013   modified Modified on Dec 27, 2013
-The Business Standard


Deadline extended by three months to March 31 for submitting report

After a push from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), a committee headed by Planning Commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri seems to be giving its full attention in moving towards Producers Price Index (PPI) that will give accurate calculation of movement of inflation. To help the panel finish its task, the government has extended its deadline by three months till March 31, 2014 to submit its report.

The committee was supposed to submit its report by December 31. However, it got delayed because "internal deliberations are not complete". It seems that it has received a major push from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to "study the feasibility of bringing out PPI" after the government faced sharp criticism for rise in the prices of essential commodities that was blamed for rout of the Congress in the recent elections to four state assemblies, a senior official involved in the process told Business Standard. The government believes that the current wholesale price index does not give correct picture and PPI is expected to give a better idea of price movements. The committee is also looking at revamping WPI itself.

The official added that the government is concerned that the committee has not been able to garner any consensus yet on the new index.

On the other hand, another official, who is part of the Committee, said that the panel is finding it difficult to calculate a correct measure of PPI as there is not enough information on producer prices.

"In India it is very difficult to estimate how much a producer gets for his produce as there are a lot of intermediaries in between," the official remarked.

PPI is a measure of change over time in the selling price of output for producers. It is usually the first commercial transaction in goods and services produced which gives an idea of margins on different products and incidence of taxes. It indicates the cost pressures in an economy. Since it measures value addition in prices, input prices have to be deducted to arrive at PPI. Most countries have PPI instead of WPI. The US switched to the PPI model in 1978.

The Saumitra Chaudhuri committee is also likely to recommended a larger number of items in the new wholesale price index which will have a new base year of 2009-10 against the present 2004-05. The product line of basket for the new WPI will largely be similar at least for manufacturing sector, an official said.

Apparently, in its report, the committee is expected to suggest that the index should have adequate format for automatic up-gradation to 2011-12 base year as soon as new inputs come.

The government had constituted a high-powered panel under the chairmanship of Planning Commission in April last year following strong criticism over the manner in which WPI was being calculated. The committee's tenure was originally to end on December, 2012.

The committee was advised to take into account structural changes in the economy since 2004-05 to present a better picture of price situation.

There were reports of error in the updated series. Economists as well as RBI have been critical of the WPI data. The new series of the WPI, the government's main tool for monitoring the priceline, was launched in September 2010 to give a more accurate picture of inflation.

The new WPI, with 2004-05 base, comprised 676 items as against 435 items in the old index. The number of price quotations for the new series was 5,482 as against 1,918 in the old series

The committee will also suggest ways to ensure smooth flow of data and also to look into the possibility of having a single agency for collecting data for WPI and index of industrial production (IIP).


The Business Standard, 27 December, 2013, http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/chaudhuri-committee-on-wpi-facing-difficulties-with-producer-price-index-113122700822_1.html


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close