India updates base year for merchandise trade indices to 2022–23

India updates merchandise trade indices' base year to 2022–23, enhancing accuracy for economic analysis and policy formulation.

The Commerce Ministry on Friday (February 20, 2026) said the base year of India’s merchandise trade Indices has been revised from 2012–13 to 2022–23 to reflect structural changes in the economy, shifts in commodity composition, evolving trade patterns and better alignment with current macroeconomic indicators.

These trade indices are compiled and published by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), an arm of the Ministry.

These indices serve as important indicators of external sector price movements and are widely used for economic analysis, including national accounts compilation and assessment of terms of trade.

Over the years, the base year of the indices has been periodically revised to reflect structural changes in India’s trade composition and evolving global trade patterns.

The exercise will ensure that the indices accurately represent the current structure of India’s merchandise trade.

“The DGCI&S has revised the base year of India’s Merchandise Trade Indices from FY12–13 to FY22–23, in view of the structural changes in the economy, shifts in commodity composition, evolving trade patterns, and the need for improved alignment with contemporary macroeconomic indicators,” the Ministry said.