Small scale items to be included in WPI

A group of experts responsible for revamping the wholesale price index has decided to include items manufactured by the small scale sector for the first time to make the index more representative and accurate.

The group, headed by Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, has selected 309 items from this sector in the new index, which is expected to come into effect from November this year.

The panel has also decided to increase the weight of manufactured items and the fuel group in the new index. Accordingly, the new WPI series, with a revised base year of 2004-05, will see the weight of manufactured items go up to around 65 per cent from 63.75 per cent in the present series.

The fuel group weight will increase to around 15 per cent, from 14.23 per cent.

The weight of primary articles will decrease from 22.02 per cent to around 20 per cent, reflecting changing production and consumption patterns in the economy.

To this end, prices of wheat and rice in the public distribution system will be dropped from the new series as they are administered rates and not representative of wholesale prices.

In all, price quotations from all commodities are being increased to around 6,000 from 1,918.

In a move aimed at collecting more timely and accurate information, the data collection system is being ramped up. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has also decided to rope in the National Informatics Centre, the government's information technology arm, to help in data collection.

Each unit, from which the data have to come, will be given a login ID and password to feed the relevant price data directly on to a portal.

Meanwhile, the Sen committee has submitted an interim report on the WPI revision to the ministry of commerce and industry last week. It is likely to seek more time -- perhaps six months -- to submit the final report.

The committee was set up five years ago and was originally expected to submit its report by March 31 this year.