The Centre may soon revise the base years for its calculation of economic and industrial outputs and retail prices, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said on Thursday. The ministry also proposed a survey to assess the contribution of women in “non-marketed” social and economic activities.

A base year signifies a benchmark for calculations such as prices of commodities, which are accounted for in the calculations.

The government currently uses 2011-’12 as the base year to calculate the gross domestic product and the index of industrial production. The ministry has proposed to begin the process this financial year to revise the base year to 2017-’18, Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda said. This will “accommodate and factor the changes take place in the economic scenario”, the ministry said.

For the calculation of retail inflation, it has proposed a base year of 2018 instead of 2012. The base year for inflation is significant because the consumer price index is fixed at 100 for the base year and the growth in prices in any subsequent year is measured in comparison with that.