The Indian government is preparing a significant overhaul of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) calculation system—an update expected to provide a more accurate and modern picture of India’s economic activity. The revised GDP series will incorporate new sectors, updated measurement techniques, and improved data sources. These changes are expected to boost the accuracy of growth estimates and strengthen the country’s economic outlook.

As part of the update, the government will introduce a new home-pricing methodology, include Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) firms in the corporate database, and use improved deflators for sectors like mining, financial services, and real estate.

Multi-activity companies to be measured differently
According to the Ministry of Statistics, companies involved in multiple business activities will no longer be treated as a single business unit in the non-financial private corporate sector. Instead, the revenue reported by companies for each activity will be used to distribute output and value added across segments—resulting in more precise estimates.

How the unregistered sector will be measured
The new GDP series will introduce an improved method to measure the unregistered or unincorporated sector. Gross Value Added (GVA) will now be calculated annually using:
• Production data from the Annual Survey of Small Businesses (ASUSE)
• Worker estimates from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)

This will replace the older method that relied on decade-old benchmarks and extrapolated growth. The upcoming GDP series will adopt 2022–23 as the new base year and will be released on February 27, 2026, replacing the existing 2011–12 base year. The revision incorporates more granular and up-to-date information from government databases and surveys.

Changes in financial-sector measurement
Significant updates will also be introduced for the financial sector. These include:
• Use of official banking system data
• MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) data for private NBFCs
• Improved estimates for moneylenders and insurance agents using ASUSE and the All India Debt & Investment Survey 2019
• A revised method for calculating pension liabilities in the government sector, reflecting the transition from the old pension scheme to the National Pension System

This new pension accounting method will replace the earlier approach of treating annual expenditure as the total liability.

Additional updates
The Statistics Ministry plans to expand the GDP coverage to include autonomous bodies and local government institutions in greater detail. Other improvements include:
• A revised input–output ratio for marine and freshwater fisheries
• Updated estimates of animal feed production
• Fresh calculations of home repair and maintenance costs based on AIDIS 2019

This document is the first of two planned consultation papers, focusing on production and income accounting. A second document—dedicated to changes in expenditure-side calculations—will be released later. The Ministry of Statistics (MoSPI) has invited suggestions from experts, government agencies, and financial institutions by December 10.