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Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) | Ministry of Commerce & Industry | National Accounts Division (MoSPI)
The Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) has revised the base year of India’s Merchandise Trade Indices from FY 2012–13 to FY 2022–23, specifically to ensure improved alignment with contemporary macroeconomic indicators like the new GDP series. This revision updates the commodity basket and weighting structure to reflect a decade of structural shifts, including technological advancements and global supply chain restructuring. These indices—specifically the Export and Import Unit Value Indices (UVI)—are used by the National Accounts Division of MoSPI as deflators for estimating real exports and imports during the 2022–23 GDP base year revision. By modernizing the weighting structure and selection procedures for common commodity baskets, the new series provides a more reliable assessment of India’s Terms of Trade and external sector price movements.
The Merchandise Trade Indices (MTI) revision is a fundamental technical component of the National Accounts Statistics (NAS) base year revision to 2022–23. While they are released by different agencies (DGCI&S for trade vs. MoSPI for GDP), their methodologies are purposefully synchronized to ensure macroeconomic consistency. The revised Merchandise Trade Indices provide the essential deflators required to transition from “nominal” trade values to “real” economic growth figures in the new GDP series.
Key Features of the Revised 2022–23 Trade Series
Strategic GDP Alignment: Providing the specific Unit Value Indices required for deflating macroeconomic aggregates in the revised National Accounts.
Modernized Commodity Basket: Updated to include emerging trade items and remove declining ones at the Principal Commodity (PC) level.
Revised Weighting Structure: Weights now reflect the latest value shares in exports and imports based on FY 2022–23 trade data.
Enhanced Methodological Rigor: Improved selection of common commodity baskets and refined imputation methods for missing unit values.
Global Partner Tracking: Detailed bilateral and regional indices for India’s top 20 trading partners to assess relative price and volume shifts.
What is the “Unit Value Index” (UVI)? The Unit Value Index (UVI) measures the growth in the average price (unit value) of items traded in a current period compared to the base year. For example, if the Export UVI for a specific month is 105.32, it means there is a 5.32% increase in the average price of exported items compared to the base year of FY 2022–23. These indices are crucial because they allow policymakers to distinguish between growth driven by actual increases in traded quantities and growth simply driven by price fluctuations. By dividing the total Value Index by the UVI, researchers can derive the “Quantity Index,” which represents the real physical volume of trade.
Policy Relevance
For India, the 2022–23 revision represents a transition from “Outdated Benchmarking” to “Dynamic Trade Intelligence,” ensuring that GDP calculations and external sector assessments are grounded in the modern economy.
Standardizing Real GDP Deflation: The use of the new Export/Import UVIs as deflators acts as a “Standard Maker” move, ensuring that the real growth figures in the 2022–23 base year revision are highly accurate.
Bypassing Global Supply Chain Distortions: By updating the commodity basket to reflect the Global Supply Chain restructuring of the last decade, the indices capture the “Deep-Tech” and semiconductor-related shifts mentioned in the Pax Silica initiative.
Operationalizing Terms of Trade: The updated Net and Gross Terms of Trade metrics allow the RBI to better evaluate India’s price competitiveness and balance of payments stability in a volatile global market.
Federal Trade Facilitation: Region-wise indices for the Top 20 partners provide the data depth needed to review existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and frame new trade-related policies under the Export Promotion Mission.
Implementation Fidelity via Monthly Data: The release of provisional monthly data (e.g., Nov 2025 Export UVI at 105.32) ensures that short-term policy reviews are based on the most relevant, contemporary price structures.
Follow the full report here: DGCI&S Merchandise Trade Indices Revision