Govt releases maiden services index
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday released the first sub-sectoral trial Index of Services Production, which showed 14 out of the 19 sub-sectors of formal
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday released the first sub-sectoral trial Index of Services Production, which showed 14 out of the 19 sub-sectors of formal services recorded double-digit growth in April 2026.Wholesale trade, retail, accommodation and food, road transport, air transport, telecommunications, and banking are among the sub-sectors, covering about 60 per cent of the services sector.Except for railway and air transport, all the categories recorded positive growth in April 2026 on an annual basis, according to the trial ISP, with a base year of 2024 -25."The ISP (Index of Services Production) represents an important milestone in strengthening India's statistical system and improving the measurement of the services sector, which accounts for more than half of the country's economic activity," the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) said in a statement.Air transport declined by 13.9 per cent, and railway transport was down by 0.4 per cent in April.Top sub-sectors reporting strong growth in April were 'accommodation and food' (37.2 per cent), retail trade (30.8 per cent), administrative and support services (28.7 per cent) and real estate (27.7 per cent), according to the index.MoSPI said the release of sub-sectoral ISPs will provide, for the first time, a monthly measure of short-term movements in India's formal services sector, with a coverage of about 60 per cent."Based on its data sources, namely, GST and Administrative Data, ISP would cover the formal sector enterprises only."Accordingly, services which are not covered in ISP are those which are either related to core government activities or are dominated by non-market activities and the informal sector," the ministry said.Subsequent ISPs will be released on the 29th of every month.
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