New Delhi: India’s upcoming GDP series, scheduled for release in late February alongside the second advance estimates, is set to provide a more comprehensive picture of the country’s evolving economic landscape.
The revised series will shift the base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23, reflecting over a decade of profound structural change driven by digitalisation, formalisation and improved data systems.
The new framework is expected to incorporate detailed measurements of services, particularly in the digital and gig economies. The rapid growth of e-commerce platforms, app-based aggregators, and digital service providers has significantly expanded the scope of economic activity, much of which remained underrepresented in earlier datasets. These platforms are now generating valuable information that can serve as a proxy for estimating output in previously hard-to-measure unorganised segments.
Since the last GDP revision, the economy has seen the rise of new and better-organised service sectors. Logistics, for instance, has evolved beyond traditional goods transportation to include extensive networks covering air freight and intra-city delivery systems. Such developments underscore the increasing complexity and integration of India’s service-based industries.
The introduction of GST has also enhanced data transparency and accuracy. Tools such as e-way bills now offer a detailed trail of goods movement across the country, providing a reliable foundation for assessing trade and production activities. Additionally, the explosive growth in digital payments, particularly through the UPI, has created rich, real-time data streams that can help policymakers trace consumption patterns and formal economic participation more effectively.
Complementing these advances, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has strengthened its coverage of the informal sector through the annual survey of unincorporated sector enterprises. This survey captures the performance of small, non-agricultural units — an essential segment of India’s productive base — and will form an integral input into the new GDP computation.
With broader and higher-quality data available on both production and consumption, the revised series aims to provide a sharper, more realistic assessment of India’s current economic performance. The update marks a significant step toward aligning official statistics with the modern structure of the economy, where digital platforms, new-age services, and technology-driven businesses play an increasingly dominant role.
Overall, the new GDP series is poised to deliver a more accurate and contemporary measure of India’s economic activity—one that better captures the transformation brought about by digitalisation, formalisation and technological innovation over the past decade.