Table No. 1

(1) Annual data are averages of the months.

(2) Figures relate to last Friday of the month / year.

(3) Total of Rupee Securities held in Issue and Banking Departments.

(4) Relates to loans and advances only.

(5) Figures relate to the last Friday / last reporting Friday (in case of March).

(6) Total for Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi only.

(7) Figures relate to last reporting Friday / March 31.

(8) Rates presented as low / high for the period indicated. The source of data prior to April 2000 issue of the Bulletin has been DFHI. The data from April 2000 issue of the Bulletin are not strictly comparable with that pertaining to earlier periods due to wider coverage of Call Market business.

(9) Relating to major banks.

(10) Relating to five major banks. PLR concept was introduced with effect from October 1994.

(11) Monthly data are averages of the weeks and annual data are averages of the months.

(12) Figures relate to the end of the month / year.

(13) Data relate to January – December.

(14) Cash Reserve Ratio of Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks).

Table No. 2

The gold reserves of Issue Department were valued at Rs.84.39 per 10 grams up to October 16, 1990 and from October 17, 1990 they are valued close to international market prices.

(1) Includes Government of India one rupee notes issued from July 1940.

(2) Includes (i) Paid-up Capital of Rs.5 crore (ii) Reserve Fund of Rs.6,500 crore (iii) National Industrial Credit (Long-Term Operations): Fund of Rs.16 crore and (iv) National Housing Credit (Long-Term Operations) Fund of Rs.190 crore.

(3) Includes cash, short-term securities and fixed deposits.

(4) Includes temporary overdrafts to State Governments.

(5) Figures in bracket indicate the value of gold held under other assets.

Table Nos. 3 & 4

The expression ‘Banking System’ or ‘Banks’ means (a) State Bank of India and its associates (b) Nationalised Banks (c) Banking companies as defined in clause ‘C’ of Section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (d) Co-operative banks (as far as scheduled co-operative banks are concerned) (e) Regional Rural Banks and (f) any other financial institution notified by the Central Government in this regard.

(1) Excludes borrowings of any scheduled state co-operative bank from the State Government and any Reserve Fund deposit required to be maintained with such bank by any co-operative society within the area of operation of such bank.

(2) Deposits of co-operative banks with scheduled state co-operative banks are excluded from this item but are included under ‘Aggregate deposits’.

(3) Excludes borrowings of regional rural banks from their sponsor banks.

(4) Wherever it has not been possible to provide the data against the item ‘Other demand and time liabilities’ under ‘Liabilities to the Banking System’ separately, the same has been included in the item ‘Other demand and time liabilities’ under ‘Liabilities to others’.

(5) Data reflect redemption of India Millennium Deposits (IMDs) on December 29, 2005.

(6) Other than from the Reserve Bank of India, NABARD and Export-Import Bank of India.

(7) Figures relating to scheduled banks’ borrowings in India are those shown in the statement of affairs of the Reserve Bank of India. Borrowings against usance bills and/or promissory notes are under section 17(4) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

(8) Includes borrowings by scheduled state co-operative banks under Section 17(4AA) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

(9) As per the Statement of Affairs of the Reserve Bank of India.

(10) Advances granted by scheduled state co-operative banks to co-operative banks are excluded from this item but included under ‘Loans, cash-credits and overdrafts’.

(11) At book value; it includes treasury bills and treasury receipts, treasury savings certificates and postal obligations.

(12) Includes participation certificates (PCs) issued by scheduled commercial banks to other banks and financial institutions.

(13) Includes participation certificates (PCs) issued by scheduled commercial banks to others.

(14) Figures in brackets relate to advances of scheduled commercial banks for financing food procurement operations.

Table No. 6

(1) Total of demand and time deposits from ‘Others’.

(2) Includes borrowings from the Industrial Development Bank of India and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

(3) At book value; includes treasury bills and treasury receipts, treasury savings certificates and postal obligations.

(4) Total of ‘Loans, cash credits and overdrafts’ and ‘Bills purchased and discounted’.

(5) Includes advances of scheduled state co-operative banks to central co-operative banks and primary cooperative banks.

Table No. 7

With a view to enable the banks to meet any unanticipated additional demand for liquidity in the context of the century date change, a ‘Special Liquidity Support’ (SLS) facility was made available to all scheduled commercial banks (excluding RRBs) for a temporary period from December 1, 1999 to January 31, 2000.

(1) With effect from April 13,1996, banks are provided export credit refinance against their rupee export credit and post-shipment export credit denominated in U.S. Dollars taken together.

(2) General Refinance Facility was replaced by Collateralised Lending Facility (CLF)/Additional Collateralised Facility (ACLF) effective April  21, 1999. ACLF was withdrawn with the introduction of Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), effective June 5, 2000. CLF was withdrawn completely effective October 5, 2002.

(3) Special Liquidity Support Facility which was introduced effective September 17, 1998 was available upto March 31, 1999.

(4) Post-shipment credit denominated in US dollars (PSCFC) scheme was withdrawn effective February 8, 1996 and the refinance facility thereagainst was withdrawn effective April 13, 1996. The scheme of government securities refinance was terminated effective July 6, 1996.

Table No. 8

a) The data includes cheque clearing for both i.e. clearing houses managed by Reserve Bank of India and clearing houses managed by other banks. Separate paper based inter-bank clearing has been discontinued at all the centres, from June, 2005.

The other MICR Centres are Agra, Allahabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Baroda, Bhilwara, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Ernakulam, Erode, Gorakhpur, Gwalior, Hubli, Indore, Jabalpur, Jalandhar, Jameshedpur, Jammu, Jodhpur, Kolhapur, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Madurai, Mangalore, Mysore, Nasik, Panaji, Pondicherry, Pune, Raipur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Selam, Solapur, Surat, Tiruchirapalli, Tirupur, Thrissur, Udaipur, Varanasi, Vijaywada and Vishakhapatnam. b) Graphs: The graphs 3 and 4 on Paper and Electronic payments - the Electronic Payment System data include RTGS (customer and inter-bank) and CCIL operated systems.

Table No. 9A

The data pertain to retail electronic payment.

Table No. 9B

The data pertain to Large Value Payment Systems. The figures for CCIL, the operations pertain to selected services, are taken from the CCIL published data.

Table No. 10

(a) For details of money stock measures according to the revised series, reference may be made to January 1977 issue of this Bulletin (pages 70-134).

(b) Banks include commercial and co-operative banks.

(C) Financial year data relate to March 31, except scheduled commercial banks’ data which relate to the last reporting Friday of March. For details, see the note on page S 963 of October 1991 issue of this Bulletin. (d) Scheduled commercial banks’ time deposits reflect redemption of Resurgent India Bonds (RIBs), since October 1, 2003 and of India Millennium Deposits (IMDs) since December 29, 2005.

(e) Data are provisional.

(1) Net of return of about Rs.43 crore of Indian notes from Pakistan upto April 1985.

(2) Estimated : ten-rupee commemorative coins issued since October 1969, two-rupee coins issued since November 1982 and five-rupee coins issued since November 1985 are included under rupee coins.

(3) Excludes balances held in IMF Account No.1, Reserve Bank of India Employees’ Provident Fund, Pension Fund, Gratuity and Superannuation Fund and Co-operative Guarantee Fund, the amount collected under the Additional Emoluments (Compulsory Deposit) Act, 1974 and the Compulsory Deposit Scheme (Income-Tax Payers’) Act.

(f) Revised in line with the new accounting standards and consistent with the Methodology of Compilation (June 1998). The revision is in respect of pension and provident funds with commercial banks which are classified as other demand and time liabilities and includes those banks which have reported such changes so far.

Table Nos. 11 & 13

(a) On the establishment of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), on July 12, 1982, certain assets and liabilities of the Reserve Bank were transferred to NABARD, necessitating some reclassification of aggregates in the sources of money stock from that date.

(b) Please see item (c) of notes to Table 10. (C) Data are provisional.

(1) Includes special securities and also includes Rs.751.64 crore (equivalent of SDRs 211.95 million) incurred on account of Reserve Assets subscription to the IMF towards the quota increase effective December 11, 1992.

(2) Represents investments in bonds/shares of financial institutions, loans to them and holdings of internal bills purchased and discounted. Excludes since the establishment of NABARD, its refinance to banks.

(3) Inclusive of appreciation in the value of gold following its revaluation close to international market price effective October 17, 1990. Such appreciation has a corresponding effect on Reserve Bank’s net non-monetary liabilities.

Table No. 11A

The conceptual basis of the compilation of the Commercial Bank Survey are available in the report of the Working Group on Money Supply: Analytics and Methodology of Compilation (Chairman: Dr. Y.V.Reddy), RBI Bulletin, July 1998, which recommended changes in the reporting  system of commercial banks and the article entitled “New Monetary Aggregates: An Introduction”, RBI Bulletin, October 1999.

(1) Time Deposits of Residents : These do not reckon non-residents’ foreign currency repatriable fixed deposits (such as FCNR(B) deposits, Resurgent India Bonds (RIBs) and India Millennium Deposits (IMDs)) based on the residency criterion and exclude banks’ pension and provident funds because they are in the nature of other liabilities and are included under ‘other demand and time liabilities’.

(2) Short-term Time Deposits : Refers to contractual maturity of time deposits of up to and including gone year. This is presently estimated at 45.0 per cent of total domestic time deposits.

(3) Domestic Credit : It includes investments of banks in non-SLR securities, comprising commercial paper, shares and bonds issued by the public sector undertakings, private sector and public financial institutions and net lending to primary dealers in the call/term money market, apart from investment in government and other approved securities and conventional bank credit (by way of loans, cash credit, overdrafts and bills purchased and discounted).

(4) Net Foreign Currency Assets of Commercial Banks : Represent their gross foreign currency assets netted for foreign currency liabilities to non-residents.

(5) Capital Account : It consists of paid-up capital and reserves.

(6) Other Items (net) : It is the residual balancing the components and sources of the Commercial Banking Survey and includes scheduled commercial banks’ other demand and time liabilities, net branch adjustments, net inter-bank liabilities, etc.

Table No. 11B

The conceptual basis of the compilation of new monetary aggregates are available in the report of the Working Group on Money Supply: Analytics and Methodology of Compilation (Chairman: Dr. Y.V. Reddy), RBI Bulletin, July 1998. A link series between the old and present monetary series has been published in the article entitled “New Monetary Aggregates: An Introduction”, RBI Bulletin, October 1999.

(1) NM2 and NM3 : Based on the residency concept and hence does not directly reckon non-resident
foreign currency repatriable fixed deposits in the form of FCNR(B) deposits, Resurgent India Bonds (RIBs) and India Millennium Deposits (IMDs).

(2) NM2 : This includes M1  and residents’ short-term time deposits (including and up to the contractual
maturity of one year) with commercial banks.

(3) Domestic Credit : Consistent with the new definition of bank credit which includes investments of banks in non-SLR securities, comprising of commercial paper, shares and bonds issued by the public sector undertakings, private sector and public financial institutions and net lending to primary dealers in the call/term money market. The RBI’s loans and advances to NABARD would be included in the RBI credit to commercial sector. Other components such as credit to Government, investments in other approved securities and conventional bank credit remain unchanged.

(4) Net Foreign Assets of The Banking Sector : It comprises the RBI’s net foreign assets and scheduled commercial banks’ net foreign currency assets (refer to note 4 of Table 11A).

(5) Capital Account : It consists of paid-up capital and reserves.

(6) Other Items (net) of the Banking System : It is the residual balancing the components and sources of money stock, representing other demand and time liabilities etc. of the banking system.

Table No. 11C

The conceptual basis of the compilation of the Reserve Bank Survey is given in the report of the Working Group on Money Supply: Analytics and Methodology of Compilation (Chairman: Dr. Y.V. Reddy), RBI Bulletin, July 1998 and the article “New Monetary Aggregates: An Introduction”, RBI Bulletin, October 1999. The components of reserve money (to be referred as M0) remain unchanged. On the sources side, the RBI’s refinance to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), which was hitherto part of RBI’s claims on banks has been classified as part of RBI credit to commercial sector. The Reserve Bank’s net non-monetary liabilities are classified into capital account (comprising capital and reserves) and other items (net).

Table No. 12

Please see item (c) of notes to Table 10.

Table Nos. 29 & 30

Table 29 presents Index Numbers of Industrial Production (Sectoral and Use-based Classification). Due to revision of the indices of the mining sector and also the deletion of four items, viz., radio receivers, photosensitised paper, chassis (assembly) for HCVs (bus, truck) and engines from the item–basket of the manufacturing sector, the IIP data have been revised from 1994-95 onwards. This has also resulted in the change in redistribution of weights in use-based classification of IIP. Table 30 contains data on manufacturing sector at two digit level of 17 groups along with general index and sectoral indices, viz., Mining and Quarrying, Manufacturing and Electricity.

Table No. 31

(a) Figures exclude data on private placement and offer for sale but include amounts raised by private financial institutions.

(b) Equity shares exclude bonus shares.

(c) Preference shares include cumulative convertible preference shares and equi-preference shares. (d) Debentures include bonds.

(e) Convertible debentures include partly convertible debentures.

(f) Non-convertible debentures include secured premium notes and secured deep discount bonds.

(g) Figures in brackets indicate data in respect of premium on capital issues which are included in respective totals.

Table No. 35

The ban on forward trading in gold and silver, effective November 14, 1962 and January 10, 1963, has been lifted with effect from April 1, 2003.

(1) In case Friday is a holiday, prices relate to the preceding working day.

Table No. 36

Annual data relate to average of the months April to March.

(1) The new series of index numbers with base 2001=100 was introduced from January 2006 and with that the compilation of the index numbers with the base year 1982 was discontinued. The linking factor can be used to work out the index numbers with the base year 2001 for data from January 2006 onwards.

(2) Based on indices relating to 78 centres.

Table No. 37

Annual data relate to average of the months April to March. The new series of index numbers with base 1984-85=100 was introduced from November 1987.

(1) Based on indices relating to 59 centres.

(5) Indices for the State compiled for the first time from November, 1995.

(6) Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers (including agricultural labourers) are compiled from November 1995 only.

(7) Average of 8 months (November 1995 - June 1996).

Table Nos. 39 & 40

The new series of index numbers with base 1993-94=100 was introduced in April 2000. Details regarding the scope and coverage of new series are published in June 2000 issue of the Bulletin.

Table No. 41

The foreign trade data relate to total sea, air and land trade, on private and government accounts. Exports are on f.o.b. basis and imports are on c.i.f. basis. Exports include re-exports of foreign merchandise previously imported to India and imports relate to foreign merchandise whether intended for home consumption, bonding or re-exportation. Direct transit trade, transshipment trade, passengers baggage, ship’s stores, defence goods and transactions in treasure i.e. gold and current coins and notes, diplomatic goods, “proscribed substances” under Atomic Energy Act, 1962, are excluded from the trade data, while indirect transit trade, transactions in silver (other than current coins) and in notes and coins not yet in circulation or withdrawn from circulation are included.

Table Nos. 42 & 43

(1) Data up to 1980-81 are final, subsequent data are preliminary actuals.

(2) Interest accrued during the year and credited to NRI deposits has been treated as notional outflow under invisible payments and added as reinvestment in NRI deposits under Banking Capital – NRD.

(3) The item “Non-monetary Gold Movement” has been deleted from Invisibles in conformity with the IMF Manual on BOP (5th edition) from May 1993 onwards; these entries have been included under merchandise.

(4) Since 1990-91 the value of defence related imports are recorded under imports (merchandise debit) with credits financing such imports shown under “Loans (External Commercial Borrowings to India)” in the capital account. Interest payments on defence debt owed to the General Currency Area (GCA) are recorded under Investment Income debit and principal repayments under debit to “Loans (External Commercial Borrowings to India)”. In the case of the Rupee Payment Area (RPA), interest payment on and principal repayment of debt is clubbed together and shown separately under the item “Rupee Debt Service” in the capital account. This is in line with the recommendations of the High Level Committee on Balance of Payments (Chairman : Dr. C. Rangarajan).

(5) In accordance with the provisions of IMF’s Balance of Payments Manual (5th Edition), gold purchased from the Government of India by the RBI has been excluded from the BOP statistics. Data from the earlier years have, therefore, been amended by making suitable adjustments in “Other Capital Receipts” and “Foreign Exchange Reserves”. Similarly, item “SDR Allocation” has been deleted from the table.

(6) In accordance with the recommendations of the Report of the Technical Group on Reconciling of Balance of Payments and DGCI & S Data on Merchandise Trade, data on gold and silver brought in by the Indians returning from abroad have been included under import payments with contra entry under Private Transfer Receipts since 1992-93.

(7) In accordance with the IMF’s Balance of Payments Manual (5th edition), ‘compensation of employees’ has been shown under head, “income” with effect from 1997-98; earlier, ‘compensation of employees’ was recorded under the head “Services – miscellaneous”.

(8) Since April 1998, the sales and purchases of foreign currency by the Full Fledged Money Changers (FFMC) are included under “travel” in services.

(9) Exchange Rates : Foreign currency transactions have been converted into rupees at the par/central rates up to June 1972 and on the basis of average of the Bank’s spot buying and selling rates for sterling and the monthly averages of cross rates of non-sterling currencies based on London market thereafter. Effective March 1993, conversion is made by crossing average spot buying and selling rate for US dollar in the forex market and the monthly averages of cross rates of non-dollar currencies based on the London market.

Explanatory Notes

Balance of payments is a statistical statement that systematically summarises, for a specific time period, the economic transactions of an economy with the rest of the world.

Merchandise credit relate to export of goods while merchandise debit represent import of goods.

Travel covers expenditure incurred by non-resident travellers during their stay in the country and expenditure incurred by resident travellers abroad.

Transportation covers receipts and payments on account of international transportation services.

Insurance comprises receipts and payments relating to all types of insurance services as well as reinsurance. Government not included elsewhere (G.n.i.e.) relates to receipts and payments on government account not included elsewhere as well as receipts and payments on account of maintenance of embassies and diplomatic missions and offices of international institutions.

Miscellaneous covers receipts and payments in respect of all other services such as communication services, construction services, software services, technical know-how, royalties, etc.

Transfers (official, private) represent receipts and payments without a quid pro quo.

Investment Income transactions are in the form of interest, dividend, profit and others for servicing of capital transactions. Investment income receipts comprise interest received on loans to non-residents, dividend/profit received by Indians on foreign investment, reinvested earnings of Indian FDI companies abroad, interest received on debentures, floating rate notes (FRNs), Commercial Papers (CPs), fixed deposits and funds held abroad by ADs out of foreign currency loans/export proceeds, payment of taxes by nonresidents/refunds of taxes by foreign governments, interest/discount earnings on RBI investment. etc. Investment income payments comprise payment of interest on non-resident deposits, payment of interest on loans from non-residents, payment of dividend/profit to non-resident share holders, reinvested earnings of the FDI companies, payment of interest on debentures, FRNs, CPs, fixed deposits, Government securities, charges on Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), etc.

Foreign investment has two components, namely, foreign direct investment and portfolio investment.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) to and by India up to 1999-2000 comprise mainly equity capital. In line with international best practices, the coverage of FDI has been expanded since 2000-01 to include, besides equity capital reinvested earnings (retained earnings of FDI companies) and ‘other direct capital’ (intercorporate debt transactions between related entities). Data on equity capital include equity of unincorporated entities (mainly foreign bank branches in India and Indian bank branches operating abroad) besides equity of incorporated bodies. Data on reinvested earnings for the latest year are estimated as average of the previous two years as these data are available with a time lag of one year. In view of the above revision, FDI data are not comparable with similar data for the previous years. In terms of standard practice of BoP compilation, the above revision of FDI data would not affect India’s overall BoP position as the accretion to the foreign exchange reserves would not undergo any change. The composition of BoP, however, would undergo changes. These changes relate to investment income, external commercial borrowings and errors and omissions. In case of reinvested earnings, there would be a contra entry (debit) of equal magnitude under investment income in the current account. ‘Other Capital’ reported as part of FDI inflow has been carved out from the figure reported under external commercial borrowings by the same amount. ‘Other Capital’ by Indian companies abroad and equity capital of unincorporated entities have been adjusted against the errors and omissions for 2000-01 and 2001-02.

Portfolio investment mainly includes FIIs’ investment, funds raised through ADRs/GDRs by Indian companies and through offshore funds. Data on investment abroad, hitherto reported, have been split into equity capital and portfolio investment since 2000-01.

External assistance by India denotes aid extended by India to other foreign Governments under various agreements and repayment of such loans. External Assistance to India denotes multilateral and bilateral loans received under the agreements between Government of India and other Governments/International institutions and repayments of such loans by India, except loan repayment to erstwhile “Rupee area” countries that are covered under the Rupee Debt Service.

Commercial borrowings covers all medium/long term loans. Commercial Borrowings by India denote loans extended by the Export Import Bank of India (EXIM bank) to various countries and repayment of such loans. Commercial Borrowings to India denote drawals/repayment of loans including buyers’ credit, suppliers’ credit, floating rate notes (FRNs), commercial paper (CP), bonds, foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) issued abroad by the Indian corporate, etc. It also includes India Development Bonds (IDBs), Resurgent India Bonds (RIBs), India Millennium Deposits (IMDs).

Short term loans denotes drawals in respect of loans, utilised and repayments with a maturity of less than one year.

Banking capital comprises of three components : a) foreign assets of commercial banks (ADs), b) foreign liabilities of commercial banks (ADs), and c) others. ‘Foreign assets’ of commercial banks consist of (i) foreign currency holdings, and (ii) rupee overdrafts to non-resident banks. ‘Foreign liabilities’ of commercial banks consists of (i) Non-resident deposits, which comprises receipt and redemption of various non-resident deposit schemes, and (ii) liabilities other than non-resident deposits which comprises rupee and foreign currency liabilities to non-resident banks and official and semi-official institutions. ‘Others’ under banking capital include movement in balances of foreign central banks and international institutions like IBRD, IDA, ADB, IFC, IFAD, etc. maintained with RBI as well as movement in balances held abroad by the embassies of India in London and Tokyo.

Rupee debt service includes principal repayments on account of civilian and non-civilian debt in respect of Rupee Payment Area (RPA) and interest payment thereof.

Other capital comprises mainly the leads and lags in export receipts (difference between the custom data and the banking channel data). Besides this, other items included are funds held abroad, India’s subscription to international institutions, quota payments to IMF, remittances towards recouping the losses of branches/subsidiaries and residual item of other capital transactions not included elsewhere.

Movement in reserves comprises changes in the foreign currency assets held by the RBI and SDR balances held by the Government of India. These are recorded after excluding changes on account of valuation. Valuation changes arise because foreign currency assets are expressed in US dollar terms and they include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies (such as Euro, Sterling, Yen) held in reserves.

Table No. 44

1.  Gold is valued at average London market price during the month.

2.  Conversion of SDRs into US dollars is done at exchange rates released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

3.  Conversion of foreign currency assets into US dollars is done at week-end (for week-end figures) and month-end (for month-end figures) New York closing exchange rates.

4.  Foreign exchange holdings are converted into rupees at rupee-US dollar RBI Holding rates.

5.  Reserve Tranche Position (RTP) in IMF has been included in foreign exchange reserves from April 2, 2004 to match the international best practices. Foreign exchange reserves figures have accordingly been revised for 2002-03 and 2003-04 to include RTP position in the IMF.

Table No. 51

The 5-country indices of REER/NEER were replaced with new 6-currency indices in December 2005. The RBI Bulletin December 2005 carried a detailed article on the rationale and methodology for the replacement. A revision has now been undertaken in the construction of the 6-currency REER indices. This revision was necessitated by a sudden spurt in Chinese inflation indices during April-May, 2006. It may be mentioned that Chinese inflation indices are not readily available in the public domain. The National Bureau of Statistics provides only point-to-point inflation rates on a monthly basis in the public domain. In view of this, inflation indices were constructed taking into account the inflation rates with 1993-94 as the base year. It may be further mentioned that the period from January 1993 to December 1995 was marked by continuous double digit inflation rates in China. This lent an upward bias to the Chinese inflation indices (base: 1993-94=100) leading to a sharp fall in the value of 6-currency REER in April 2006. In order to remove the distortion in REER on account of sudden spurt in Chinese inflation numbers, a new series of Chinese inflation indices has been constructed taking 1990 as the base year (a year with much less volatility in inflation rates). Subsequently, the base year of the new series of Chinese inflation indices has been changed from 1990 to 1993-94 through splicing to facilitate the construction of the 6-currency REER (base 1993-94=100).