Key Details
MoSPI’s trial Index of Services Production (ISP) tracks monthly production across 19 selected services sub-sectors, using 2024–25 as its base year. The August figures compare each sub-sector with August 2025.
Measure | August 2026 Finding |
|---|---|
Sub-sectors with positive growth | 17 of 19 |
Sub-sectors with double-digit growth | 13 of 19 |
Fastest growth | Retail trade: 19.9% |
Other leading sub-sectors | Repair services and real estate: 17.6% each; insurance: 16.5%; banking: 14.9% |
Sub-sectors that contracted | Air transport: −9.6%; arts, entertainment and recreation: −4.7% |
Growth Was Widespread, but Transport Was Uneven
Retail trade recorded the strongest year-on-year increase. Professional, scientific and technical services, including research and development, grew 14.2%, while IT and computer-related services rose 13.8%. The breadth of positive readings is notable, though the index does not explain what drove growth in each activity.
Transport tells a less uniform story. Warehousing and transport-support activities grew 11.2%, water transport 9.5%and road transport 9.4%. Railway transport grew 3.7%, while air transport contracted. Reading these activities separately reveals differences that a broad description of “services growth” would miss.
The Trial Series Adds Detail, Not a Services-Wide Headline
The ISP gives users a monthly view of individual services activities, complementing MoSPI’s industrial production statistics. It does not supply an aggregate growth rate for all services, and its 19 sub-sectors should not be treated as the entire services economy.
MoSPI is publishing the series experimentally to assess data quality, test its reliability and gather user feedback. The railway, banking and insurance indices use provisional monthly data and are subject to annual revision. The August readings are therefore useful for tracking patterns, but their interpretation may change as the series develops.
Policy Relevance
The ISP could help policymakers spot divergent trends within services sooner than broader economic data allow. Its immediate value lies in comparing activities—such as the contrast between growing road and water transport and contracting air transport—not in drawing a conclusion about total services output.
Before using the trial figures as a regular policy indicator, users will need to see whether sub-sector patterns remain consistent over time and how much annual revisions change the provisional indices. MoSPI’s feedback process is an opportunity to test whether the series meets those analytical needs.
Follow the Full Release Here: Release of Sub-Sectoral Trial Index of Services Production for August 2026