Now, govt to bring out a monthly Index of Services Production from July 14

With services being the dominant growth engine of the economy, the government is set to launch the index of services production to measure the output of the sector in July.   Designed on the lines of the index of industrial production that measures the factory or manufacturing output, the ISP will cover the formal services sector and will be released on a monthly basis.    With a base year of 2024-25, the ISP will be released with a monthly frequency with a lag of about 60 days on the 29th of the month. The trial monthly indices for the year 2025 -26 and for April are slated for release on July 14. 

Must Read: Solution to the crisis is reforms to promote exports: Montek Singh Ahluwalia on the impact of the West Asia conflict    “The two main aims for compiling ISP are to provide economic trends that would complement an IIP on the short – term movement of an economy; and high-frequency information on the performance of the services sector to strengthen the existing statistical framework to support analytical and policy framework,” said a statement by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Wednesday.   Additionally, it would also provide timely information on the performance of services industries, thereby, strengthening monitoring of economic activity and supporting evidence-based policy decisions.   The sectoral coverage of ISP would include sub-sectors like wholesale and retail trade, transport, banking, insurance, telecommunications, hotels and restaurants, real estate, professional, scientific and technical services, arts, entertainment and recreation.   Two sub-sectors of health and education services would be included in the ISP framework later, after the results of the Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises (ASISSE) are released, as they are exempt from goods and services tax, which is one the data sources for the index.   However, certain services would be excluded from the ISP, such as public administration and defence, financial services like activities of the Central Bank, money market funds, services of membership organisations, activities of private households with employed persons, gambling and betting and health and education provided by the government.    Apart from GST data, MOSPI will use two other primary data sources, including administrative data like for the case of air and railway transport and banking and insurance, and the AISSE for health and education.