India to Launch First-Ever Index of Services Production (ISP)
Quick Look
- India is launching its first Index of Services Production (ISP) on July 14, using 2024-25 as the base year.
- This monthly indicator will track the dominant services sector's growth with a 60-day lag, providing high-frequency insights.
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Why It Matters
India is launching its first Index of Services Production (ISP) to track the services sector's growth, mirroring the Index of Industrial Production. This indicator will provide high-frequency insights into the dominant services sector's performance.
India will begin publishing its first-ever Index of Services Production (ISP) from July 14, introducing a monthly high-frequency gauge to track the performance of the country's services sector, which contributes more than half of the nation's economic output.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) said on Wednesday that the new index, with 2024-25 as the base year, will be released with a 60-day lag. The inaugural ISP reading for April 2026 will be announced on July 14, after which the data will be released on the 29th day of every month, or the next working day if it falls on a holiday.
The ministry said the ISP is designed as the services-sector equivalent of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and will serve as a key macroeconomic indicator for measuring short-term changes in the output of India's services economy.
Broad coverage across services economy
The index will cover major services industries, including wholesale and retail trade, transport, banking, insurance, telecommunications, hotels and restaurants, real estate, professional and technical services, and arts, entertainment and recreation.
MoSPI said health and education services are also proposed to be incorporated into the framework after the report of the Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises (ASISSE) becomes available.
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The conceptual and methodological framework for the ISP was finalised in consultation with a technical advisory committee constituted in May 2025 and headed by Debjani Ghosh of government think tank NITI Aayog.
GST data to power experimental indices
The ministry said the ISP aims to provide high-frequency information on the services sector and strengthen the country's statistical and policy framework.
The index will be compiled using three principal data sources — administrative records, GST returns and ASISSE data.
Since some of these datasets are still evolving and GST data is being used for statistical applications for the first time, MoSPI said it will initially release trial or experimental indices to assess their stability and resilience before shifting to regular compilation and dissemination.
The ministry added that since services data is collected in nominal value terms, price deflators will be used to strip out inflation effects and convert revenue data into real output measures, allowing the index to capture actual changes in services production over time.
Open Questions
- Will health and education services be included immediately?
- How will price deflators affect the real output measures?
- What are the specific metrics for stability and resilience of trial indices?
