2011

Rameshwari Ploto Cory &tvie:

Delhi School of Econt rnics
9810867818, 7838360097

Discussion. 9818184716, 9971230728

Indian Statistical System

sectors of the economy. The switch over
to new standards in respect of the financial
sector has been relatively smooth, in
contrast to the problems in the real sectors,
at Crossroads where the compilation of quarterly gross
domestic product (0GDP) is a new area
not treaded so far and accounts had to be
KGKSUBBA RAO changing scenario. The reforms in the compiled without a corresponding suit
financial and real sectors of the economy able database, particularly in various seg
he series of articles on the Indian also had an impact on the ISS. In the wake ments of the unorganised sector. Though
statistical system by S M Vidwans of deregulation and liberalisation mea there has been some degree of flexibility
(hereafter called SMV) (EPW, Septem sures undertaken during the period, data in the adaptation of SNA by nember
ber 14,21,28,2002 ) deal with the present availability and its quality thereof have countries, similar freedom was not avail
become a casualty, which were hitherto able under SDDS standards and countries
problems of the Indian statistical system had, per force, to compile these estimates
(ISS), with particular emphasis on centre available through statutory controls and
state relations in the statistical set-up of regulations. This is so in some of the without an adequate and reliable database.
the country. Acritical analysis ofthe series crucial segments of the economy like The initiatives taken by DoS are triggered
of initiatives taken by the departiment of industrial production, where the data by this dire need to supply the requisite
statistics (DoS) ofthe government of India generated do not truly representthe growth data, without the necessary infrastructure.
in the late 1990s, as asequel to the special of the economy. The economy is also to Against this backdrop, it would be useful
discuss the points raised in the article.
data dissemination standards (SDDS) closely knitted with the rest of the world,
imposed by the International Monetary and transactions thereof assume promi I donot have allegiance either to any state
Fund (IMF), was also atempted. These nence. Thus the decade of the 1990s government or the central government,
initiatives were taken in quick succession threw up challenges to venture into data and, as such, my views could be taken as
from 1998 onwards, commencing with a gathering in new areas. The decade was unbiased. Being associated with official
workshop on the modernisation of the also characterised by rapid strides in statistics for nearly four decades and
ISS, the proposal to create the Statistical development of information technology dabbling with data released from the
Authority of India (SAI), appoint1ment of and communication networks, with easy Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) and
the committee to review the National availability of data on tap. While data the National Sample Survey Organisation
Sample Surveys (NSSRC) and the World capturing and data processing have (NSSO) and being a member of some
Bank-assisted project on modernisation. minimised the delays in the release offinal committees/working groups set up by the
The culmination is the report of the results, the quality of data has degener government while in service, Iventure to
National Statistical Commission (NSC), ated, partly because of the indifference make a few observations. SMV starts with
released in 2001, which also deals with towards data supply to the official a preamble that not all users of data and
the problems of the ISS and the remedial organisations and ebbing efficiency at statistical experts and advisers know the
measures thereof. Many of these reports various levels of the departments through operation of the ISS and the state statis
(except the NSC report) are not known to which data is routed. In the statistical tical systems (SSS), the latter playing a
the statistical fraternity, official or other reporting system at the international level, dual role not only as a self-standing system
wise, nor are they available on the web site two important developments have taken for the state, but also as an integral part
ofthe DoS. SMV has done yeoman service place, namely, the revision of the system of theISS. Though this may be partly true,
in not only imparting the contents of some of national acounts (SNA), 1993, and the the more serious aspect is that the con
of these reports, which are not easily SDDS of the IMF in the late 1990s. In sumers of data do not know the limitations
accessible to the public, but also in criti an increasingly globalised world, the ofthe data produced, and there is consider
cally appraising the fables and foibles of number of users of consistent and com able dichotomy between the producers
DoS on various aspects. Possibly SMV parable data is increasing, and these were and consumers of statistics. The
got these reports as a member of the NSC. two epoch-making events in the history organisations producing the primary data
Coming from a person with long experi of statistical reporting. Both SNA and do not generally analyse and validate the
ence in the area of statistics at the state SDDS presuppose sound statistical sys same from external comparable sources.
and international levels, and being a tems in all countries. However, many Where there is no source for validation
member of several committees inchuding countries are still experiencing difficul or cross-check, the organisations are on
the NSC, the suggestions offered in the ties in adopting these standards, and there safer grounds.
articles deserve careful consideration, to are divergencies in the country practices. The centre-state relations in the ISS are
be examined further and debated. The The adaptation of the SNA was examined depicted in a flow chart and reproduced
imperative need for revamping the statis in depth in various fora including the in the article. In the caveat to the flow
tical system in our country stems from the Indian Association for Research in Na chart, it is indicated that the vertical co
developments in national and intermational tional Income and Wealth (IARNIW), and ordination between (1) ministries of vari
economies in the 1990s, which necessi it had not been possible to implement the ous subjects at the state level and that of
tated the generation of quality data as per system in its totality due to lack of ad the central ministries, and (2) between the
stipulated time schedules, apart from the equate data. The SDDS imposed by IMF state directorates of economics and statis
generation of new types of data in the pertains to both the financial and real tics (SDES) and the CSO as the apex

Economic and Political Weekly April 5, 2003 1421

Rameshwari Photo Copy Delhischool of Economics North Campus University Of Delhi ,mob- 9810867818
statistical organisation is strong, while the appropriate: "Without improvement in he recommendations of the NSSRC are given
So the
lateral coordination between thestatistical state govenments' administrative statisti in the NSC report as an annexure.
units of the state government departments cal system, attempts at revamping the
more infor
details provided by SMV are The
and the SDES on the one hand and that statistical systenm by its modemisation in mative and thought provoking. NSSRC
between the statistical units of the minis recommended that the NSSO should con
isolation will never succeed." Revamping
tries at the centre vis-a- vis CSO are weak.
the existing decentraliscd statatistical sys centrate on providing reliable and regular
The vertical coordination reported to be the
time series in important variables forlevel
tem, however fragile it may be, seems to that the state
strong is really not so, for there have been be the only desirable option. The overall country as a whole, and
considerable transmission delays in the statistical development includes that of the information obtained as a by-product
shouldbe passed on to the respective states.
data flow even in a particular ministry. states and any proposal for reforms should
The bottom-up approach, that is, data flow envisage measures to strengthcn the SSS This belittles the importance of the state
level estimates. This is an ill-conceived
emanating from the districts to the states as well, by allocating a part of thefinancial notion, as the state level estimates are
and then on to the central ministries, is resources to the states. The recommenda
found to sufier inordinate delays, apart tions of the NSCreportin this regard need for
required not only for the states, but also
the Planning Commission, Finance
from lack of quality checks at various to be considered. The NSC report suggests Commission and the CSO for building up
stages. Statistics coming as a by-product lateral coordination at the centre by ap
Of administrat1ve activities takes a back pointing statistical advisers in important comparable estimates ofthe state domestic
seat, giving priorities to other items of a ministries who will act as a liaison between product, the inputs for which are the
pressing nature needed for operational the CSO and the concerned ministries. Taking numerous surveys conducted by the NSS0.
This measure is expected to improve the a cue from the NSSRC recommen
purposes. Though the central ministrics do dation, the CSO also could assert that they
exercise control over the state ministries, qualityof data transmitted to CSO, apart
data collection, cleaning and processing from giving technical advice to the min need not compile the above estimates. The
do not seem to be given due importance.
NSSO has been publishing state-level es
istries on statistical matters. The second
restricted
The second vertical coordination between suggestion of the NSC is that lateral co timates for all the surveys, albeit incep
SDES and CSO cannot be taken to be ordination between SDES and the state to the central sample, ever since itssample
tion. The pooling ofcentral and state
strong on the basis of ad hoc committees depart1nents could be sought by empow estimates,'
and conterences organised by CSO from ering the former to ensure quality control Mahalanobiswhich was conceived by PC
in the early 1950s, as neces
time to time. As a member of some com of the data generated by the respective
sary for building up firm estimates at the
mittees and conferences, it was my obser departments. This is really a Herculean state levels was totally forgotten. Over the
vation that, of late, the SDES do not ef task. The SDES may not be in a position
fectively contribute to the methodological to undertake this responsibility, without years we have only the central sample
estimates. This is further diluted by the
aspects. As a matter of fact, many SDES the necessary infrastructure and augmen recommendation of the NSSRC. The
do not even participate in the conferences tation of staf.
A passing reference was made to the pooling of central and state sample esti
of the IARNIW, organised under the mates is necessitated by the need to build
auspices of the CSO. So is the case with special survey of enterprises covering 14
the conferences of the central and state broad activity groups undertaken by DoS up reliable estimates at the level of the
statistical organisations conducted by the with reference year 1998-99 (without the states. Even ifsome ofthe states are engaged
CSO in the past; these are mere melas with approval of the goverming council of the in pooling the central and state sample
NSSO) on the plea of meeting the special estimates, such data will not be accessible
a number of representatives from several
ministries/organisations/SDES attending data requirements of the national accounts to the users at large. Moreover, the states
division of the CSO. Needless to say, the are interested in knowing the performance
these meetings, without effective discus- of other states for a relative comparison.
sions. The vertical coordination may be a survey, with multiple subjects and without
The responsibility of this pooling exercise
shade better than the lateral coordination, an adequate sample size for each of the should be vested with the NSSO, instead
but this cannot be taken to be strong in activity groups, turned out to be a waste
of resources and did not meet the requisite of entrusting it to the states, as the results
view of what is stated above. thereof are of national interest. It should
requirements. Is this not a transgression of
The proposal to create SAI with wide the authority vested in the NSSO to con also be ensured that all states are processing
statutory powers in the collection of sta the data of the matching sample, collected
tistics, short-circuiting the state level duct periodical surveys since its incep-
organisations, is bound to be coercive in tion? There were some problems in getting at considerable cost. The NSC report made
the value added estimates from the NSS a passing reference to the pooling of the
nature. At the most, it may improve the central and state samples, but did not make
timely submission of data but the quality enquiries, because of not capturing the
inventories in segments of the unorganised an emphatic recommendation on the issue
is not guaranteed. Centralisation of data sector. Effort should be oriented towards that NSSO should coordinate with the state
collection directly from the district entities governments and release the pooled esti
building up details in this regard. Inciden
with the contemplated network of offices tally, it may be mentioned that the esti mates, particularly in the context ofNSSRC
of the NSSO/CSO in the state capitals, is recommendations diluting even the central
myopic and not a panacea for all the ills mates of value added derived from the
survey of traders confined to the assisted sample estimates.
plaguing the ISS. On the other hand, it will sector (that is, units assisted by commer Incidental to this aspect of pooling is the
encroach on the legitimate work of the
cial banks), conducted by the Reserve Bank issue of district level estimates, needed for
state authorities, and the entire statistical decentralised planning. The SDES are, of
system may be jeopardised. This is apart of India, in the early 1980s, far exceeded
those of the NSS estimates, probably for late, engaged in the exercises on district
from a waste of financial resources. The
the very same reasons. incomes, which, inter alia, are inputs to the
so-called flyover approach will lead to We may now turn to the discussion of human development indices (HDI) at the
further problems, with coordination de the NSSRC, details of which are eBabo state level. These are being compiled
generating from bad to worse. The asser rately discussed by SMV. Only the major without any database worth the name. The
tion of the NSC report, in this context, is

1422
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Delhi School of Econcmics
9810867818, 7833360097
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Rameshwari Photo Copy Delhi school of Economics North Campus University Of Delhi , mob- 9810867818
 state govenments should augment the the estimation of private final consump segments were used, and the data for the
sample size for the respective states in the tion expenditure (PFCE) in the national non-survey years were estimated using
NSSO surveys, as these are the inputs for accounts. This is derived indirectly by the physical indicators. Another item men
the exercises under reference. CSO also tiate,
commodity flow appronch. To substan tioned in the expansion plan is the deve
Shoua take up a proactive role in the this involves working out production lopment of the business register for bigger
matter to ensure the comparability ofthese data of all consumer goods and services, units by amalgamation of the existing
frames from various sources, so that this
indices acroSS states, more so when these adjusting for intermediate consumption, could be used as a sampling frame for
indices are generated under the acgis of stocks, imports (net) and netting out the bigger units for conducting surveys for
the United Nations Development Pro- consumption expenditure of the govem
gramme (UNDP). Even though the NSC ment and business sectors. The residual so these units separately. It is mentioned in
report touched upon the difficulties in obtained is designated as PFCE, which the NSC report that the smaller units will
be covered by the follow-up surveys of the
estimating district incomes, a novel sug covers not only the household sector but NSSO. The report does not mention the
gestion is made that "the techniques of also the private non-profit institutions
small area statistics may be used to esti serving households (PNPSH).These esti- demarcation for the two categories: these
mate these indicators on the basis of the mates from the NSSO surveys and the will vary from sector to sector. However,
state/regional level capabilities". In the national accounts cannot be compared due thc important issue is the construction of
context of the NSSRC recommendation to widely differing procedures and ap- the frame ofbigger units, consolidating the
that the NSSO should concentrate on the toproaches. Amore pertinent point relevant rame available from diferent sources for
the issue is that the compilation of each of the segments. This is a Herculean
national estimates and not of the states, a
similar suggestion seems to have been QGDP for the country is based on the from task, involving considerable time
various organisations. and etort
There is no
made by this committee to work out the production approach, and as such there is
state level estimates by the same tech no justification for conducting the survey significant role for the NSSO in this regard
niques. (This is mentioned in the article on a quarterly basis for this purpose. The warranting expansion.
by SMV.) Statistical techniques cannot be present consumption expenditure surveys It will be relevant to discuss the metho
used indiscriminately as ashort cut for the ofthe NSSO (quingennialand annual) are dology in the compilation of QGDP for
wholesale manufacture of original data. used for the estimation ofpoverty lines and afull apreciation of the expansion plans
Instead, sincere efforts should be made to there does not seem to be any need to do envisaged above. The CSO has been sup
improve the database of the Indian these exercises on a quarterly basis. Simi- plying the data to the IMF since 1997-98
economy. larly, there is no need to conduct the under SDDS. Basically, the production
The setting up of NSSO directorates in employment and unemployment surveys approach is followed in the compilations.
state capitals to evoke better coordination on a quarterly basis. The workforce estiAcursory glance at the methodology re
from the states is not justified, and runs mates even in the annual national accounts veals that directdataplugged into the system
counter to the suggestion that NSSO should are based on the census data, and the NSSO are practically insignificant, due to lack of
concentrate on the national estimates only. survey data are used only for the inter se details. To summarise briefly, in the area
As a matter of fact, there could be a re proportions among industrial groups, which of agriculture, the harvest stage approach
duction in the sample size if the concern will be invariant in a span of one year. (that is, recording the output of crops in
was only to build up the national estimates, There are other comments by SMV on the quarters in which it is harvested) is
and the corresponding staff and costs the expansion plans of the NSSO both in followed; the input data are taken from the
could be reduced. Expansion per se does regard to household and non-household annual estimates from the cost of cultiva
not bring about wonders; it may lead to surveys. The latter seems to be meant for tion studies. In respect of manufacturing
diminishing returns! working out an alternative Index of Indus (registered and unregistered), the ASI data
We may now turm to the massive expan trial Production (IIP) based on the data for the registered sector and the data on
sionplans of the NSSO recommended by received from the factories under the directory and non-directory establishments
the NSSRCandreported in the article. The Annual Survey of Industries (ASI). As for the non-registered sector are moved by
logic of the NSSRC stating that the mentioned by SMV, the index compiled the IP, which itself is not credible, and
workload will increase fourfold, neces under this approach is totally different certainly not suitable for extrapolating the
sitating massive expansion, is not clear. from the product-based index now being data in the unregistered sector. So also the
Possibly this guess seems to have been compiled. If so, the same limitation holds IIP is liberally used for other sectors like
made on the basis ofconducting additional good for the recommendation of the NSC construction. It is also indicated that there
surveys on a quarterly basis, to meet the that a study should be taken up to compare are some segments, on which very little
demands of the QGDP, as dictated under the annual growth rates ofproduction based data is available, and annual output is
[Link] us first revert to the consump on the ASI data and the current IIP. distributed uniformly to all the quarters;
tion expendituresurveys, and the metho- output
Deflating the value added estimates by the output of these categories accounted
and input prices is a serious pro for 15 per cent ofthe total. The concluding
dology ofQGDP to examine whether these
quarterly surveys are necessary. blem in this exercise; recourse is taken to para of the paper makes interesting
Even in the annual estimates of national use a single deflator of output prices. In reading, saying: "The CSO is contemplat
accounts, it is extremely difficult to re view of these problems, the data collection ing on introducing annual enterprise sur
concile the divergences in the national and associated exercises will not give veys with four sub-rounds coinciding with
income generated through the three ap- further insight into the improvement of IP four quarters of the year, so that direct data
proaches, namely, production, income and The quarterly surveys in the unorganised on the unorganised segments of the
expenditure, in view of the differences in sector (called the informal sector) are also economy are available." Does this imply
scope and coverage of the data and esti not warranted, for even for the annuaB that CSO is embarking on surveys parallel
mation procedures adopted, among other national accounts compiled so far during to those of the NSSo, as done for the
factors. Further, NSSO consumption ex the past five decades, the results thrown referenceyear 1998-99, which did not yield
penditure surveys are not the source for up by the quinquennial surveys on these satisfactory results? Or is it a part of the

Economic and Political Weekly April 5, 2003 Remeshwari Photo Copy Service 1423
Delhi School of Econc mics
9810867818, 7838360097
Rameshwari Photo Copy Delhi school of Economics North Campus 98131847169ity Of Delhi, mob- 9810867818
 discussed by me in other
NSSO rounds at the instance of the CS0? for several decades, have been seriously and state samples wasimplementation of the
Itappears from the SMV articles that the discussing the reliabiliy ofthese estimates. fors as well. The prerogative of
suggestions was, of corse, the
modermisation project has been shelved by As such,it may be prudent for India to the DoS
the government, in view of the huge pause before embarking on massive ex presented
by Ramesh Kolli of the CSO
2 Apaper OECDIADBESCAP
expenditure involved. Nevertheless, the pansion plans on the plea of meeting the
at the
workshop on
project may be resurected, with the bless SDDS. n details on
quarterly national accounts gives 0GDP;
ings of the World Bank. The various issues adopted in the
the methodologyavailable
discussed sbove need to be re-cxamined Notes these details are on the weh site
de novo, involving all concerned [Link]/stat/
production,
organisations including state governments. 1This is one of the topics discussed by me 3 Even among countries using the
The datn on QGDP are being supplied in my eseay 'Suggestions for Improvement of income and expenditure approachesbe inde
regularly to IMF under SDDS, despite the Indian Statistical System', which was pendently, only one approach is taken to more
serious limitations in methodolgy. Even awarded a prize by the DoS in 1999. The essay dependable and the estimates for the others are
countries like the United States, which competition was also perhaps one of the adjusted. For details, reference may be made
above.
initistives taken by DoS. The pooling of central fo the web site mentioned
haveconsiderable experience in the area

Rancshwari Fhoto Cory Survice

Delhi Schoc! of Econc mics
9810867818, 7838360097
9818184716, 9971230728

1424 Economic and Political Weekly April 5, 2003

Rameshwari Photo Copy Delhischool of Economics North Campus University Of Delhi, mob- 9810867818
 Impact and Policy Research Review (IPRR)
Vol. 2, Issue 1, January – June 2023, pp. 18-51

Policy Perspectives

The State of the Indian Statistical System

Evolution and Challenges

Arjun Kumar1

Abstract

The system of official economic statistics in India has undergone myriad changes
since Independence. There have been various developments in its administrative
structures and changing levels of focus on different economic sectors. The types of
datasets available for these sectors have been ever-evolving and undergo dynamic
changes owing to real-time measurement and analysis using ICT.
Using this sector-wise classification of Agriculture, Industries, and Services,
and also including the unorganized and informal sectors, the paper explores India’s
structure of economic statistics. While the paper draws attention to recent datasets
and rounds of surveys, the focus is also on the evolution of the system of official
economic statistics in India. The paper highlights issues with the credibility and
utility of the available data, in light of a declining GDP growth which also gives rise
to more serious questions on the reliability of the country’s data architecture and
system of economic statistics. It also discusses structural changes such as those of
the MoSPI and NSC.
The system of official economic statistics in India now faces the challenge of
adapting to Information and Communication Technology. The paper thus emphasizes
the role of strengthening real-time and Management Information Systems data to
enable evidence-based policymaking and planning and realize the vision of ‘New
India’ and a US$ 5 trillion economy.

Keywords: Statistics, NSS, Census, Survey, New India

Background and Motivation

As the Indian economy has grown since its independence, it has experienced decades
of sectoral changes, evolving reform processes, and technological advances. In turn,
it has become one of the major fastest-growing developing economies in the world
and is poised to become further strengthened in the 21 st century as it has strong
macroeconomic fundamentals and a unique ‘India’ brand in the era of globalization.

1
Director, IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi

Impact and Policy Research Review (IPRR) Vol. 2, Issue 1, January – June 2023 18
e-ISSN: 2583-3464
MEHTA, ET AL.: THE STATE OF THE INDIAN STATISTICAL SYSTEM | Policy Perspectives

One of the contributors to the strong economic fundamentals in India has

been its robust official statistical architecture, which responds to the dynamics of
the country’s governance and planning structures, socio-economic, technological,
and other reform processes. Understandably, the system of official economic
statistics in India has undergone myriad changes. There have been various
developments in its administrative structures and changing levels of focus on
different economic sectors.
At present, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI)
is the nodal ministry of the Government of India (GoI) concerned with aspects of
coverage and quality of statistics that are regularly released. The surveys conducted
by the Ministry are based on scientific sampling methods. Its Five-Year Vision Plan
for 2019-2024 has urged the National Statistical System to be geared toward meeting
the demands of society and policymakers through the reliability, comprehension
capacity, and accessibility of digital data. It has highlighted that to reach the goal
of becoming a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024-25, real-time monitoring and improved
metrics of various parameters of the economy are needed (Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation, 2019). This further becomes relevant in the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG) era. Aligning with the Agenda 2030 suggestion to the
member states to conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national
and sub-national levels, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social
Affairs (UNDESA) has come up with guidelines for the national statisticians to enable
them to monitor progress made in the implementation of the SDGs based on data
produced by national statistical systems.
For ensuring evidence-based policymaking, the Guidelines on Integrated
Economic Statistics provide practical guidance on advancing consistency, coherence,
and reconciliation of statistical information through the application of the
methodology of integrated economic statistics using the System of National Accounts
2008 as the overarching conceptual framework (Department of Economic and Social
Affairs Statistics Division, UNDESA, 2013).
In India, sectoral-level data has been gathered through multiple sources such
as the Agricultural and Livestock Censuses, which capture data on the agricultural
sector. For the Industries sector, the Annual Survey of Industries and the Directorate
of Industries in states are the two major sources of industry data. Since economic
liberalization in India, there has been an increased focus on the Services sector and
the development of a well-organized mechanism to cover it. This sector is covered
by National Sample Surveys, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ MCA-21 Database,
Goods and Services Tax (GST), and others. The unorganized and informal sectors of
the economy also find coverage in the National Sample Survey (NSS) Rounds on
Employment and Enterprises. The Census of India, the Economic Census, Price
Indices, and NSS Rounds on Consumption Expenditure, Enterprises, and Employment,
among others, are major sources of economic statistics as well. We also have new
arrays of data for the formal sector in the form of Banking, Employers’ Provident
Fund Organisation, Direct Tax, GST, Property Tax, and others, as well as various
administrative and program data in the form of Management Information Systems
(MIS) and Dashboards. The types of datasets available for various economic sectors

Impact and Policy Research Review (IPRR) Vol. 2, Issue 1, January – June 2023 19
e-ISSN: 2583-3464
MEHTA, ET AL.: THE STATE OF THE INDIAN STATISTICAL SYSTEM | Policy Perspectives

have been ever-evolving and undergo dynamic changes owing to real-time

measurement and analysis using Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
This paper adopts the sectoral framework to understand and trace the contours of
official economic statistics in India. The sector-wise analysis would assess the
classification of the three broad industry structures i.e., primary or agriculture,
secondary or industries, and tertiary or services, along with the unorganized and
organized sectors. This paper explores India’s structure of economic statistics and
examines the challenges and possibilities to suggest possible ways forward from this
sectoral analysis.
While the paper draws attention to recent datasets and rounds of surveys,
the focus is also on the evolution of the system of official economic statistics in
India. The paper highlights issues with the credibility and utility of the available
data, in light of a declining rate of growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which
also gives rise to more serious questions on the reliability of the country’s data
architecture and system of economic statistics. It also discusses the structure,
issues, and changes in MoSPI, NSSO, and the National Statistical Commission (NSC).
This paper is divided into five sections. The introductory section is followed
by the sectoral overview of the sources of economic statistics in India. Section Three
traces the contours of official sectoral economic statistics and in doing so it discusses
the Indian Statistical System and vision documents for New India on statistics and
data for a “new economy”. Section Four highlights some impediments in producing
authentic data and ensuring reliable information. The paper finally concludes with
a discussion on the ways forward to address the critical gaps in India’s statistical
system to ensure a streamlined collection, calculation, and monitoring of data that
will ultimately address the national priorities for the benefit of its citizens.

Sources of Official Economic Statistics in India: A Sectoral Overview

Official Economic Statistics

Here, we talk about the structure of economic statistics in India. One part lies with
government bodies like MoSPI and Ministries such as Labour, Annual Survey of
Industries, etc., and the other with entities who reproduce the data, both of
government such as NITI Aayog and RBI as well as private, such as ISEC, IndiaStat and
others.

Table 1: Official Economic Statistics, Selected

Area Data Source Source Organisation
National Income [Link] Ministry of Statistics and
and Accounts pi/reports-publications/- Programme Implementation
/reports/view/templateFive/90 (MoSPI)
1?q=RPCAT
Taxation [Link] Goods and Services Tax (GST)

Impact and Policy Research Review (IPRR) Vol. 2, Issue 1, January – June 2023 20
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MEHTA, ET AL.: THE STATE OF THE INDIAN STATISTICAL SYSTEM | Policy Perspectives

[Link] Central Board of Direct Taxes

[Link]/pages/about-us/central- (CBDT)
[Link]
Monetary, [Link] Reserve Bank of India
Banking and [Link]?site=statistics
Finance
Prices [Link] Labour Bureau
/
[Link]
Office of the Economic
Adviser, Department for
Promotion of Industry and
Internal Trade
Budget and [Link] Union Budget, Ministry of
Public Finance / Finance
[Link] Department of Economic
Affairs (DEA), Ministry of
Finance
Businesses [Link] MoSPI
pi/economic-census-ec-
Insurance [Link] Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority of
India (IRDAI)
Demography Census: Office of the Registrar
[Link] General & Census
Commissioner, India, Ministry
of Home Affairs
Socio-Economic Caste Census: Ministry of Rural
[Link] Development
Aadhaar: [Link] Unique Identification
Authority of India
Labor, [Link] MoSPI
Employment and-employment-statistics
and Wages National Sample Survey:
Employment and
Unemployment:
[Link]
lt/files/publication_reports/nss
_report_554_31jan14.pdf
Periodic Labour Force Survey:
[Link]
Labour-Surveys
Consumption All India Debt and Investment National Sample Survey
Expenditure, Survey: Office, MoSPI
Debt and [Link]
Investment

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lt/files/publication_reports/nss
_577.pdf
Consumer Expenditure Survey:
[Link]
lt/files/publication_reports/Re
port_no558_rou68_30june14.pd
f
Migration and [Link] Registrar General and Census
Mobility us_And_You/[Link] Commissioner of India
Infrastructure [Link] DEA
infrastructureindia/home
Government [Link]
Schemes and [Link]
Programs [Link]
Source: Compiled by authors

National Income and Accounts: It is compiled by CSO and details of the methodology
are outlined in documents released (MoSPI, 2015; UN, 2008; MoSPI, 2019g). National
Accounts Statistics: Sources and Methods 2012 describes the sources and methods of
estimation of macroeconomic aggregates, domestic product, consumption
expenditure, saving, capital formation, capital stock, accounts of the public sector
and consolidated accounts of the nation, which are presented in the Central
Statistical Office (CSO)’s annual publication ‘National Accounts Statistics’ (NAS).
MoSPI has released an updated Methodology for Compilation of the Gross State Value
Added (GSVA) in the New Base (2011-12) in 2019.
The CSO releases National Accounts Statistics each year with many faces of
national accounts by economic sectors/activities, further accounts classifications,
and details of any changes. The latest available National Accounts Statistics is for
the year 2019 ([Link]
2019). These accounts are also available for quarterly estimates, however, the yearly
one is most used for reporting and analysis. The latest base year series used is 2011-
12, which was 2004-05 earlier.
At the sub-national and district level, CSO suggests the methodology for state
DES to calculate and estimate the same. However, DES mostly reports yearly GVA
and rarely goes into further details or inquiry in practice.
We do not have any estimates at the local levels, especially for cities.
However, during the changes in the base year, CSO does give rural and urban
classifications and also outlines a method for the same. Nonetheless, no estimation
can be found officially using the same. Currently, India has 4302 cities, around 4000
census towns (not incorporated by law), 2.4 Lakh Gram Panchayats and 6.4 Lakh
villages.

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An Input-Output transaction table is also a part of MoSPI’s data provisions.

Methods and data for the same are provided. Further discussions2 on Input-Output
and social accounting in India also exist.

Taxation: The information on direct, indirect (Goods and Services Tax (GST),
[Link] and other taxes are given by respective boards such as
Central Board of Direct Taxes ([Link]
us/[Link]) under the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

Budget and Public Finance: Similarly, the MoF also presents the Union Budget
([Link] each year along with the Economic Survey in
Parliament. It has statistics on revenue, borrowing, payment, expenditure, outlays,
deficits and so on. These are also available at the website of the Department of
Economic Affairs, MoF ([Link] as follows:

External Debt
Public Finance Statistics
Central Government Borrowings
National Summary Data
Monthly Economic Report
Overseas Direct Investment ODI
Debt Statistics Middle Office
QEDS

Monetary, Banking and Finance: The RBI Database on Indian Economy and Handbook
of Statistics on Indian Economy give data in this area. The information is given in
four parts: Annual Series, Quarterly/Monthly Series, Series with less than Monthly
Frequency and Major Growth Rates and Ratios. The areas covered are National
Income and Employment, Output and Prices, Money and Banking, Financial Markets,
Public Finance, Trade and Balance of Payments, Currency and Coinage,
Socioeconomic Indicators, External Sector, Exchange Rates, Macroeconomic
Aggregates, Wholesale and Consumer Price Indices, among others.

Prices: All-India item-wise Consumer Prices Indices (Industrial Workers, Agricultural

and Rural Laborers) and Retail Price Indices are given by the Labor Bureau
([Link] Wholesale Price Index is given by the Office of
Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
([Link]

Businesses: Corporate, Industry, Enterprises: The data in this area comes from
myriad sources such as the Economic Census, Enterprise Surveys, Ministry of MSMEs
(which provides Udyog Aadhaar for identification), GST (registrations, returns and
collection), databases of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Registrar of
Companies, Directorate of Industries, PAN and TAN databases, among others.

2
[Link]
le_Final_CSTEP.pdf

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The Economic Census has been carried out since 1977, (1980, 1990, 1998, 2005,
2013 and 2019) with its scope specifying multiple exclusions. The NSS Enterprise
Surveys also exclude sectors such as the Primary Sector, Construction and
Government enterprises. This makes it important to assess how and where the
informal sector is being included in the country’s data collection machinery and
where to look for data on the same.
Additional resources are available from the Development Commissioner,
Ministry of Micro Medium and Small Enterprises3 and Ease of Doing Business from NITI
Aayog4.

Foreign Trade and Investments: Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) -

[Link] - provides data of relevance.

Insurance: Data is given by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority

[Link]

Demography: The Census ([Link] Socioeconomic Caste Census

([Link] and the Aadhaar database ([Link] are
perhaps the three most pertinent sources of data in this area.

Labor, Employment and Wages: The important sources of labor market information
at enterprise levels are: the Economic Census, the Census of Small-Scale Industries
(SSI), the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), the Directorate General of Employment
and Training (DGET), the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) and the
NSSO (through EUS and PLFS). Apart from these major sources, various sub-national
agencies, departments of governments, and international agencies such as the
International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Labor Bureau also provide sector and
region-specific information relating to labor markets. Data from the Employee
Exchange, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Employees’ State
Insurance Corporation (ESIC), and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development
Authority (PFRDA) also becomes of note.

Housing and Land: Data is found in House Listings and Housing Census, NSS Rounds
on Housing and Amenities and Slum Settlements, National Family Health Surveys
(NFHS) and is also embedded in other survey data. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
(PMAY) and other government schemes maintain housing program-related data.
Official estimates for property prices in the market are obtained from the
RESIDEX, prepared by the National Housing Bank (NHB)
([Link] and the Housing Price Index of the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI). Estimates from institutional and private sources are also available
from real estate companies and institutions such as Housing and Urban Development
Corporation (HUDCO), National Buildings Organisation (NBO), National Buildings
Construction Corporation (NBCC), Construction Industry Development Council

3
[Link]
4
[Link]

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(CIDC), CREDAI, NAREDCO, JLL, CBRE, Knight Frank, Cushman & Wakefield,
Propequity, KPMG, McKinsey Global Institute, Colliers, HDIL, ET Intelligence group
and so on. Furthermore, Nestoria. in, [Link], [Link], [Link],
[Link] and many others provide online portals for real estate and housing.
However, all these collect information for a handful of large cities and a limited
number of projects in India, and, hence, lack robustness.
Circle rates are obtained from the Registration and Stamps, Dept. of the
Department of Revenue for all the states and cities. Municipal Valuation
Committees/local bodies decide these rates for different localities, such as colonies,
wards, zones, etc. Circle rates consist of land and construction costs by type of
settlements, colonies, location, etc. (Kundu & Kumar, 2019).

Social Statistics: There are myriad datasets for health and education. Notably, they
include the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), Health Management Information
Systems, District Level Household and Facility Survey and the Sample Registration
System. Certain NSS rounds also cover Social Consumption (Health and Education)
and Sanitation and Housing Conditions, among others. Further, education is covered
by the All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) and the Annual Status of
Education Report (ASER).
Supplementary data also come from sources such as the India Human
Development Survey (IHDS).

Environment, Forest and Natural Resources Statistics: Apart from the CSO, various
ministries and departments of Central and State Governments collect information
related to Environment Statistics and the same is published in various publications
namely, Forestry Statistics, The State of Forest Report, Inventory of Forest Resources
of India, State of Environment, etc. by organizations within the Ministry of
Environment and Forests; Agriculture Statistics at a Glance and Fisheries Statistics
by the Ministry of Agriculture; Water Statistics by Ministry of Water Resources, etc.
2.2 Official Sectoral Economic Statistics: Agriculture and Allied Activities

Table 2: Sources of Official Sectoral Economic Statistics: Agriculture

Data Source Source Organization Years

1 Agriculture Census Ministry of Agriculture and 1970-71
Farmers Welfare
2 Livestock Census Department of Animal Husbandry Quinquennially
and Dairying, Ministry of since 1919
Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and (20th Census
Dairying launched in
October 2018)
3 Economic Census Ministry of Statistics and Program 1977, 1980, 1990,
Implementation 1998, 2005, 2013,
2019

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4 National Sample National Sample Survey Office, 59th Round (2003)

Survey: Situation Ministry of Statistics and Program 70th Round (2013)
Assessment of Implementation
Agricultural
Households
5 National Sample National Sample Survey Office, 8th Round (1954-
Survey: Land and Ministry of Statistics and Program 55)
Livestock Holdings Implementation 16th Round (1961-
62)
26th Round (1971-
72)
37th Round (1982)
48th Round (1992)
59th Round (2003)
70th Round (2013)
6 Annual Reports Department of Agriculture,
Cooperation and Farmers
Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture
Source: Compiled by authors

The Agriculture Census has been conducted at five-year intervals since 1970-71 to
collect data on structural aspects of operational holdings in the country. It is carried
out in three phases – Collection of data on primary characteristics like number and
area of holdings by social groups, gender, etc. (Phase I), Collection of detailed data
on land use, irrigation status, etc. (Phase II) and Input Survey collecting data on the
pattern of input use (Phase III). Similarly, the Livestock Census since 1919,
quinquennially carries out a complete enumeration of livestock, poultry (and others,
along with their sex composition, age, distribution, utility-wise distribution, etc.),
machinery and implements, among others.
National Sample Surveys also emerged pertaining to the Agriculture Sector,
namely, the Survey of Land and Livestock Holdings (since 1954) and the Situation
Assessment Survey (2003 and 2013), which collect information on various aspects of
farming and other socio-economic characteristics of agricultural households, as well
as household and livestock ownership.
There also exists a plethora of ancillary agrarian data
([Link]
[Link]
[Link] on the consumption of inputs, cultivation costs and
income, cropping pattern and yields, among others.

Official Sectoral Economic Statistics: Industry

Table 3: Sources of Official Sectoral Economic Statistics: Industry

Data Source Source Organization Years

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1 Economic Census Ministry of Statistics and 1977, 1980, 1990,

Programme Implementation 1998, 2005, 2013,
2019
2 Annual Survey of National Sample Survey Since 1960
Industries Office, Ministry of Statistics
and Programme
Implementation
3 National Sample Survey: National Sample Survey 15 surveys from 33rd
Enterprise Surveys Office, Ministry of Statistics Round (1978-79) to
and Programme 73rd Round (2015-
Implementation 16)
4 Index of Industrial Central Statistics Office,
Production Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation
5 Mining and Mineral Mining and Mineral Statistics
Statistics Division, Indian Bureau of
Mines
Source: Compiled by authors

The Annual Survey of Industries was launched in 1960 by replacing both, the Census
of Manufacturing Industries (CMI) and the Sample Survey of Manufacturing Industries
(SSMI). It is limited to the registered manufacturing and repairing units only (since
1998-99). Its frame is based on the lists of registered factories or units maintained
by the Chief Inspector of Factories (CIF) in each State and those maintained by the
licensing authorities in respect of bidi and cigar establishments.
The units or factories in the ASI frame are grouped into Census and sample
sectors. While the factories in the Census sector are surveyed on a complete
enumeration basis, a representative sample from the sample sector is considered
for survey in any survey year.
The important aspects of the sampling design of ASI, 1999-2000 are as under:
• All registered manufacturing and repairing units in the frame are grouped into
two basic strata namely, the Census sector and the sample sector. The units
in the census stratum are surveyed on a complete enumeration basis.
• The census sector comprises the following:
o All manufacturing and repairing units in the frame in the five States
and Union Territories of Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and
Andaman and Nicobar Islands; and
o For the remaining States and Union Territories: All manufacturing and
repairing units employing 200 or more workers.
• In each of the States and Union Territories other than the five States and
Union Territories specified above, the complete list of units in the sample
sector is stratified into different strata with each stratum consisting of all
manufacturing and repairing units belonging to a particular industry 4-digit
code of National Industrial Classification, 1998.

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• A sample of suitable size from each stratum is drawn circularly systematically

with equal probability and in the form of two independent sub-samples after
arranging the units according to district and number of workers.
• Of the total number of 1,74,167 units in the frame, the gross allotment of
units considered for the survey (which includes non-operating factories
appearing in the frame) at the country level is 35,391 of which 9,570 are the
Census sector units.

Started in the 33rd Round (1978-79) of the National Sample Survey, Enterprise Surveys
serve as follow-up surveys to the Economic Census (since 1977). They give data on,
among other things, Value Added, Enterprises by Type and Ownership, and Workers.
This survey excludes the Primary Sector, Construction and Government Enterprises.
(Additional information is available at resources such
as [Link] and [Link]
statistics.)

Official Sectoral Economic Statistics: Services

Table 4: Source of Official Sectoral Economic Statistics: Services

Data Source Source Organization Years

1 Economic Census Ministry of Statistics and 1977, 1980, 1990,
Programme Implementation 1998, 2005, 2013,
2019
2 National Sample Survey: National Sample Survey 15 surveys from
Enterprise Surveys Office the 33rd Round
(1978-79) to the
73rd Round (2015-
16)
3 National Sample Survey: National Sample Survey 63rd Round (2006-
Service Sector Enterprises Office 07)
74th Round (2016-
17)
Source: Compiled by authors

The survey on Service Sector Enterprises has been carried out in the 63rd
(2006-07) and 74th (2016-17) Rounds of the National Sample Survey and the latter is
deemed to be a prelude to a proposed Annual Survey on Service Sector Enterprises
(ASSSE). (Additional information is available at resources such as
[Link]

Official Sectoral Economic Statistics: Unorganized/Informal Sector

Table 5: Sources of Official Sectoral Economic Statistics: Unorganised/Informal Sector

Data Source Source Organization

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1 Report on Conditions of Work and Promotion

of Livelihoods in the Unorganized Sector
2 Growth Pole Programme for Unorganized
Sector Enterprise Development
3 Reports on Financing of Enterprises in the
Unorganized Sector and Creation of a
National Fund for the Unorganized Sector
(NAFUS)
4 Reports on Definitional and Statistical Issues
relating to Informal Economy
National Commission for
5 Skill Formation and Employment Assurance
Enterprises in the Unorganized
in the Unorganized Sector
Sector
6 Reports on Social Security
7 Special Programme for Marginal and Small
Farmers
8 National Policy on Urban Street Vendors
9 A Report on Technology Upgradation for
Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector
10 The Challenge of Employment in India – An
Informal Economy Perspective (Vol-I)
11 The Challenge of Employment in India – An
Informal Economy Perspective (Vol-II)
12 National Sample Survey: Informal Non- National Sample Survey Office,
Agricultural Enterprises Ministry of Statistics and
Program Implementation
Source: Compiled by authors

The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS)

and NSSO have produced the above reports. In addition, certain rounds of the NSS
Enterprise Surveys focus on the Unorganized Manufacturing and Services sectors, but
no report focusing on the unorganized and informal sectors is very recent. More
recent rounds of the National Sample Surveys on Employment and Unemployment
capture the informal sector under the enterprise types Proprietary and Partnership.
This definition lends itself to an overestimation in the number of workers as well as
enterprises in the country’s informal sector.

Economic Statistics: Other Official Statistics, Administrative Data and Non-

Official Sources

Such other data is captured in many ways, such as Program and Administrative
data from Management Information Systems and Dashboards of Central and State
Government Schemes and Ministries. A variety of business and economic databases
exist, private or otherwise, with the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), EPW
Research Foundation, and World Bank Open Data being a few of them.

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It is important to note that much of the data produced at the national level
is also generated by the Directorates of Economics and Statistics at the state level,
by applying their own frame for location.

Tracing the Contours of Official Sectoral Economic Statistics

Tracing the Contours: Indian Statistical System

(1) Structure of MoSPI

The Indian Statistical System ([Link]

presently functions within the overall administrative framework of the country. By
and large, the flow of statistical information emanates from the States to the Centre
except in cases where the State-level operations are an integral part of Centrally
sponsored schemes or data are collected through National Sample Surveys. The
Central Statistical Organization (CSO) in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation (MoSPI) is the nodal agency for the planned development of the
statistical system in the country and for bringing about coordination in statistical
activities among statistical agencies in the Government of India and State
Directorates of Economics and Statistics. The coordination and flow of information
between the MoSPI and the statistical systems of the states is given in the Annexure.
The National Sample Survey (NSS), initiated in the year 1950, is a nationwide, large-
scale, continuous survey operation conducted in the form of successive rounds. It
was established to fill up data gaps for socio-economic planning and policymaking
through sample surveys. To get rid of the inordinate delays in the release of survey
results, all aspects of survey work were brought under a single umbrella by setting
up the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) in 1970. Since its creation, the
NSSO has been functioning under the overall direction of a Governing Council with
autonomy in the matter of collection, processing and publication of survey data,
thus ensuring freedom from political and bureaucratic interference.
The NSSO carries out Household and Enterprise Surveys, undertakes the
fieldwork for the Annual Survey of Industries, provides technical guidance to the
States in respect of the Crop Estimation Surveys besides assessing the quality of
primary work done by the State Agencies in area enumeration and yield estimation,
prepares the urban frames useful for selection of urban blocks for the surveys and
collects price data for rural retail prices as well as selected items consumed by the
urban non-manual employees required for the preparation of consumer price indices
for agricultural laborers and urban non-manual employees, respectively.

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National Statistical Commission (NSC)

Based on the recommendations of the C. Rangarajan Commission, the

National Statistical Commission (NSC) was set up to evolve policies, priorities and
standards in statistical matters (MoSPI, 2001). It was established as an interim
measure, and not as a permanent National Commission on Statistics to serve as a
nodal and empowered body for all core statistical activities of the country, to evolve,
monitor and enforce statistical priorities and standards and ensure statistical
coordination among the different agencies involved. During 2002, many debates
were sparked over the same raising various concerns (Dasgupta, 2002; MoSPI, 2001;
MoSPI, Rangarajan, 2001; Rath, 2002; 2009; Vidwans, 2002).
Therefore, in the absence of any legislative framework, the NSC has faced
challenges in implementing its recommendations. In light of this, the present
government has prepared the Draft National Statistical Commission (NSC) Bill 2019
to adhere to the Rangarajan Commission’s recommendations in totality. The Bill
primarily envisages encouraging Government agencies to proactively bring forth
issues on the national statistical system for discussion in the Commission (MoSPI,
2019).
The MoSPI is also seeking Comments/ Suggestions on the Draft National
Statistical Commission (NSC) Bill 2019
([Link]
The period since its establishment and the Draft NSC Bill 2019 has witnessed
conflicts between the NSC and the Office of the Chief Statistician of India (CSI) -
who apart from being the secretary to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation (MoSPI) is also the Secretary to the NSC. This led to the decline in
the credibility of the Indian statistical system exaggerated by a divided leadership,
that led to several reform proposals being stuck in limbo. The peak of this
conflagration came with the resignation of two of its members, citing undue
government influence in the publication of an NSSO report on jobs (2018c; MoSPI,
2019b; NSC, 2018).
Reports of the NSC Committees ([Link]
committees) are Legislative measures on statistical matters, Unorganized Sector
Statistics, Statistics of Agriculture and allied Sectors, Periodic Labor Force Survey,
Statistical Audit of All India Index of Industrial Production, Price Statistics, Data
Management.
Request for Comments and Suggestions on the Report of Committees
constituted by NSC ([Link] in the public
domain are: Report of Committee on Financial Sector Statistics, Report of
Committee on Real Sector Statistics, Report of Committee on Online Reporting
System, Report of Committee on Analytics, Report of Committee on Fiscal Statistics.
NSC brings out an Action Taken Report each year ([Link]
taken-report) and Annual Reports ([Link]

Draft National Policy on Official Statistics, 2018

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MoSPI also invited Comments on Draft Policy: National Policy on Official Statistics in
2018 MoSPI (2018c) and there is news that this policy can be announced soon
([Link]
f).

Central Statistical Organisation (CSO)

To coordinate statistical activities of the different ministries of the Government of

India and the State Governments and the evolving of statistical standards, the CSO
was established in May 1951. The responsibilities of CSO include the preparation of
National Accounts; conducting Annual Surveys of Industries, Economic Censuses and
their Follow-up Enterprise Surveys; constructing Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
and consumer price indices for urban non-manual employees; compiling Social
Sector Statistics; imparting training in official statistics; formulating a Five Year Plan
program relating to the development of statistics in the States and Union Territories;
disseminating various statistical information including that relating to social and
environment statistics; undertaking a periodic revision of National Industrial
Classification, and others. The CSO is also responsible for periodically conducting
the Conference of Central and State Statistical Organisations.
One of the major responsibilities of the CSO is to act as the nodal agency for
the planned development of the statistical system of the country. The CSO is
entrusted with the responsibility not only to coordinate the statistical activities of
the Government of India and State Directorates of Economics and Statistics (DESs)
but also to lay down and maintain norms and standards in the field of statistics.
Though the CSO has no legal authority to enforce standards and coordination, the
work is done through institutional arrangements like interdepartmental meetings of
Working Groups, Technical Advisory Committee on various subjects, Standing
Committee, etc. in the case of Central Ministries.

National Statistical Organisation (NSO)

The NSC operates through the NSO, which is the official agency for implementing
policy decisions of the NSC. It has been formed by a merger of the NSSO and CSO
(Magazine, 2019a). It functions as the single full-fledged Department of MoSPI
headed by a Director-General and is responsible for conducting large-scale sample
surveys in diverse fields on an All-India basis. Primarily, data are collected through
nationwide household surveys on various socio-economic subjects and, Annual
Survey of Industries (ASI), among others. Besides these surveys, NSO collects data
on rural and urban prices and plays a significant role in the improvement of crop
statistics through supervision of the area enumeration and crop estimation surveys
of the State agencies. It also maintains a frame of urban area units for use in sample
surveys in urban areas.

Tracing the Contours: Official Sectoral Economic Statistics

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(2) India’s Economic Performance

Sectorally, agriculture has become a subsistence economy with a burden of heavy

dependence on population and rain gods (low irrigation coverage), low prices of
produce (supply chain & finance deficiencies), the rising cost of the input (market
support) and dismal and disappointing sad news. The manufacturing growth rate has
been flat for some time, despite the Make in India mission, although growth has
peaked out and thus bottomed out. The service sector continues to expand and
continues to be a major source of growth. The unorganized sector which accounts
for about 45% of the GDP, has been badly hit by demonetization and GST. The non-
agriculture component of this sector contributes to 31% of the GDP. The unorganized
sector employs 80-90% of the Indian workforce. However, definitional issues and
higher formalization are reported on the account of GST, ESIC, EPFO, etc.
Compliance is the silver lining (Mehta & Kumar, 2019) despite high levels of
unemployment as reported by PLFS, 2019, which has been a characteristic of the
last decade as well termed jobless growth.
Tracing the Origin of Sectoral Official Economic Statistics

1910s 1919: Livestock Census

1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s 1950: National Sample Survey
Organization founded
1951: Central Statistics Office
founded
1954: Land and Livestock
Holdings Survey started
1955: Employment and
Unemployment Survey started
1960: Annual Survey of 1960s
Industries was launched by
merging Census of
Manufacturing Industries and
Sample Survey of
Manufacturing Industries
1970s 1970: Agriculture Census
1971: All India Debt and
Investment Survey
1977: Economic Census
1978: NSS Enterprise Survey
1980s
1990s 1999: Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation
was formed by merging
Department of Statistics and

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Department of Programme
Implementation
2003: Situation Assessment 2000s
Survey
2004: National Commission for
Enterprises in the Unorganized
Sector
2005: National Statistical
Commission
2006: NSS: Service Sector
Enterprises
2010s 2015: NITI Aayog, Digital India
2017: Periodic Labor Force
Survey
2018: Draft National Policy on
Official Statistics
2019: MoSPI Vision 2024, Draft
NSC Bill
2020: NITI Aayog National Data 2020
and Analytics Platform: Vision
Document

New Survey/Census/Program
Organizational Change
New Document

Figure 1: Tracing the Contours: A Timeline

(Source: Compiled by Authors)

Figure 1 outlines the origins of sectoral official economic statistics in India. While
the 1950s witnessed the origin of major organizational and key statistics, the Annual
Survey of Industries was started in the 1960s by incorporating the Census and surveys
being held earlier. The 1970s had a more professional approach towards sectoral
statistics, and the Agricultural Census, NSS All India Debt and Investment Surveys,
Economic Census, and NSS Enterprise Surveys were launched. In the 1990s, MoSPI
was formed by merging the Department of Statistics and Programme
Implementation. The decade 2000s (with Situation Assessment Surveys of
Agriculture, coming up of National Statistics Commission, NSS of Service Sector
Enterprises, National Commission for Enterprises in Unorganized Sector) and 2010s
(with Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) and many digital, technological and process
improvements show more maturity and seriousness towards the sectoral economic
statistics and structures.

Latest estimates and information from Sectoral Official Economic Statistics

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As mentioned before, the National Accounts Statistics as given by CSO is available

latest for the year 2019 at the base year 2011-12 series
([Link]
Recently, it has also been reported to the Parliament that the Advisory
Committee on National Accounts Statistics (ACNAS) has recommended to the MoSPI
to consider 2020-21 as the next base year of National Accounts given the structural
reforms.
The latest estimates for Industry by ASI are available for 2017-18. The Sixth
Economic Census is the latest available (2013). The latest Agricultural Census is for
the year 2015-16. The latest estimates for enterprises are for the year 2015-16 and
for services - 2016-17 from the NSS rounds (MoSPI, 2018a; MoSPI, 2018b; MoSPI,
2019a; MoSPI, 2019c; MoSPI, 2019e; MoSPI, 2019f; MoSPI, 2020a; MoSPI, 2020b)
Real-time data for many companies (MCA), industries (Registrar of Industries & Chief
Inspectors of Factories (CIFs)), Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs,
registered), PAN, taxpayers, GST enrolled businesses, bank accounts, Mudra loans,
EPFO, ESIC, PFRDA, etc are available at the sources mentioned before.
Tracing the Contours: Vision for New India: Statistics and Data

MoSPI: Five- Year Vision 2019-2024

The Vision 2024 for the National Statistical System is spearheaded by MoSPI (MoSPI,
2019d;
[Link]
on_2024_of_MoSPI.pdf) on the highlighted fact that the official statistics are a public
good and are an essential part of the development architecture of India. It
extensively uses digital technology to provide holistic and coherent data on a real-
time basis and is committed to reforming the existing institutional, organizational
and technical challenges for policy and stronger dissemination practices for the
public. Some of the areas highlighted in the reform process are the integration of
administrative datasets from the various government institutions and agencies; the
creation of a common database of registries across beneficiary schemes at the
national level to inform the policymakers of the exact number of beneficiaries,
which would help in better implementation of government schemes and empower
the people to make better decisions, and; strengthening of data dissemination in a
timely and user-friendly manner as well as monitoring of large infrastructure
projects.
Some of the transformational strategies to achieve the above reforms are:
strengthening the institutional framework of the National Statistical System for
data-driven interventions for measuring the progress of the goal to achieve a USD 5
Trillion Economy by 2024 with enhanced ease of living; the backdrop of Industry 4.0;
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Digital India program; strengthening
technological and physical infrastructure and; effective management of human
capital. Implementation of the objectives for achieving Vision 2024 requires
mobilization of institutional, legal and policy, IT, human capital, research and
development and enhanced user engagement strategies. Towards this, the
government has adopted the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics to

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promote professional ethics in the production and dissemination of official statistics

in the country. A National Quality Assurance Framework was announced in 2018 by
MoSPI, which was based on the UN Quality Assurance Framework. It also follows the
UN Guidelines on Integrated Economic Statistics in response to the need for a
consistent framework for measuring national economic activities. The approach for
transformation in MoSPI would be broadly in line with the UN Economic Commission
for Europe’s (UN ECE) High-Level group for the Modernization of Official Statistics
This will help strengthen and establish an agile institutional framework in MoSPI that
will operationalize the generic Statistical Business Process Model in statistical
operations and services.
Over the next five years, MoSPI will implement wide-ranging reforms of statistical
products & processes to realize its vision by the following themes:

Theme I: Strengthening statistical infrastructure for real-time monitoring of the

economy

Theme II: Integrating data and registries, existing in silos in various Ministries, into
the National Statistical System through an Integrated Information Portal by
developing data-sharing protocols and use of technology

Theme III: Strengthening the monitoring of large infrastructure projects

These will be achieved in a time-bound manner by 3 transformational strategies:

Strategy I: Strengthening Institutional Framework

Strategy II: Strengthening Technological and Physical Infrastructure

Strategy III: Effective Human Capital Management

Harnessing technological innovations like big data analytics and artificial

intelligence to develop a National Integrated Information Portal is under process,
which will be a repository of all official statistics and homogenized metadata. This
an important constituent of Vision 2024, intending to achieve the targets in a strict
time-bound manner.

The expected outcomes of the revamped statistical system are:

• Improved Statistical products and processes that are relevant, accurate,

reliable, timely, accessible, coherent and comparable at local, sub-national
and international levels.
• Better data integration with minimum redundancies
• Multidisciplinary statistical product
• Partnership and intense collaborations among stakeholders
• Improved user - produces discussion and dissemination forum

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NITI Aayog: National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) Vision Document,
January 2020

Proposed to be released in 2021, the Vision Document for the National Data and
Analytics Platform (NDAP), 2020 by NITI Aayog (NITI Aayog, 2020) is a flagship
initiative that lays down the aim of democratizing access to public government data
through a world-class user experience, by standardizing data, providing flexible
analytics and ensuring ease of accessibility.
Mentioning the challenges of incoherence and lack of user-centric publishing of
data, the document outlines an approach that includes standardization of data
across multiple Government sources, providing flexible analytics, and making it
easily accessible in formats conducive for research, innovation, policymaking, and
public consumption. The aim is to draw inspiration from the best platforms around
the world; build on the success of existing Indian data platforms (e.g.
[Link] and DISHA - [Link] pursue a user-centric
approach to providing access to data, and; provide access to data from multiple
sectors in one place. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be developed to
keep data updated. The governance structure lists:
• a High-Powered Steering Committee under the chairmanship of Vice-Chairman,
NITI Aayog to provide direction, oversee progress, guide on data sources, and
address various inter-ministerial issues on collating data.
• a Technical Advisory Group consisting of sector and technology experts to provide
expert consultation on the development of the platform, management of data,
and alignment of the platform for user needs.
• a Project Management Unit to coordinate with different stakeholders and manage
various facets of NDAP, and,
• A technology vendor will be engaged in the development and operation of the
NDAP.

As stated in the Union Budget 2020-21 speech,

“There is a growing need for the Indian Statistical system to meet the challenges
of real-time monitoring of our increasingly complex economy. Data must have
strong credibility. The proposed new National Policy on Official Statistics would
use the latest technology including AI. It would lay down a road-map towards
modernized data collection, integrated information portal and timely
dissemination of information.”

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Official Sectoral Economic Statistics: Analysis and Discussion

Analysis

The lack of timely, credible and reliable data has time and again led to debates and
counter-debates from the government and scholarly community alike. Some of the
recent contestations have arisen due to discrepancies in the empirical evidence
linking microeconomics with the macroeconomic realities and to consider
institutions and governance as important components of this analysis of statistical
systems. Since the data of different economic sectors are collected in different
years, there exists no centralized system for harmonization of the data. An
integrated, decentralized information system populated with granular data will
enable data to be carried flexibly wherever required, queried, and analyzed in
business contexts at all levels of governance for a deeper insight (Barman, 2016;
Barman, 2018; Barman, 2020; Bhattacharya, 2019; Bhattacharya, 2020;
Chandrasekhar, 2019; Dasgupta, 2002; Himanshu, 2019; Magazine, 2019a; MoSPI,
2015; Nagraj, 2015; Sen, 2020; Singh, 2019; Bhalla, 2019a; Bhalla, 2019b;
Teltumbde, 2017). Further, discrepancies in the GDP data have questioned India’s
quest for growth and development and taking the great leap forward in economic
growth in the world (Anant, 2016; Debroy, 2019; Business Today, 2019; CSO, 2015;
EPW, 2016b; EPW Engage, 2019; Nagraj, 2017a; PTI, 2016; Rajakumar & Shetty, 2016;
Subramanium & Josh, 2019; Teltumbde, 2017; Times of India, 2019; Verma, 2016;
Waghmare, 2018).
Even for the macroeconomic indicators from the RBI’s trends and progress of
banking in India and flow funds accounts and national accounts, critiques and
discrepancies have been highlighted in the literature (Rao, 2017; Rao, 2018).
The recent and aforementioned debacle on the employment data
architecture has brought India’s problem of huge unemployment to the forefront
(Basu, 2019; Himanshu, 2019; Kapoor, 2017; Kapoor, 2018; Kapoor, 2019; Mehta &
Kumar, 2019a; Mehta & Kumar, 2019c; Mehta & Awasthi, 2019b; Mehta et al., 2020;
Bhalla, 2019a; Bhalla, 2019b). It is only in the absence of proper data that targeted
and precise policy measures cannot be curated to tackle unemployment in the
country.
A more worrying story now emerges for the NSS Consumption Expenditure data
which is used for assessing poverty and inequality, for which the report of the recent
round held in 2018 has not been released yet. (Himanshu, 2019; Mazumdar et al,
2017; Mehta & Kumar, 2019b; Bhalla, 2019a; Bhalla, 2019b). There have also been
arguments, especially by Bhalla (2019a&b) that the NSS estimates suffer from serious
methodological issues on account of under-estimation. Bhalla terms the results of
NSS as ‘a statistical embarrassment’ and ‘truly bizarre’.
A similar debate has also arisen over the Aadhaar data and processes (EPW,
2016a; Mathews, 2016; Prakash, 2016; UIDAI, 2016). Interestingly, both sides of the
debate have been raised, and this necessitates a resolution through in-depth
research and evidence presented in the form of white papers.
In the agriculture and allied sectors, the lack of a proper database acts as an
impediment to the implementation and success of all related policies and schemes

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on the ground (Mehta & Kumar, 2017; Shetty et al., 1968). Even in the latest scheme
PM-KISAN where direct benefit transfer support is given to the farmers, the lack of
any database or register is largely affecting the implementation and monitoring
process.
Even the industry sector is beset with challenges of discrepancies and
methodological issues in manufacturing. Dynamic changes (Industry 4.0 & Future of
work) and reconfiguration have been highlighted in the backdrop of the Make in India
mission (Bedi & Banerjee, 2007; Mehta & Awasthi, 2019b; Nagraj, 2017b; Nagraj et
al., 2018).
The service sector, which has become the core of the economy, encompasses
many dynamic sectors and has been under larger focus since the last decade (Nagraj,
2009; Nagraj, 2015). Further, service sector estimates are now also based on the
dynamic MCA frame for larger compliance and methodological improvements. The
MCA has made it mandatory for every company to update their location by
geotagging.
The definitional issues for the unorganized sector are creating measurement
issues, especially with technological upgradation and capacity of the authorities to
bring them into formal sectors, which has been also underlined as the silver lining,
this can be ascertained through PAN, GST, EPFO, ESIC, PFRDA, among others
(Borgohain, 2017; Mazumdar, 2008; Nagraj, 2016; NSC, 2012, NCEUS, 2008).
Nonetheless, the conditions and social security of this sector remain the major
challenge.
There is no proper national-level registry for people involved in informal jobs
or sectors, such as vegetable vendors, construction workers, rickshaw pullers, auto-
rickshaw drivers, temporary staff and so on, and there is an urgent need for these
registries to be instituted and updated, using latest digital technologies and
innovations, along with a dynamic unemployment registry to provide direct
economic (universal basic income), health (universal coverage) and other necessary
contingency protection and security support (Mehta & Kumar, 2020c). Similarly,
there is an urgent need to maintain a dynamic registry for the migrants to prepare
a database, supplemented with their skill sets and job requirement details for
greater usage (Mehta & Kumar, 2020d).
Other official statistics including sanitation, education, health, and housing
as well as administrative statistics and Management Information Systems (MIS) also
have a plethora of discrepancies arising from official sources, highlighting leakages,
non-transparency and credibility issues (Kumar, 2014; Kumar, 2015; Kumar, 2016;
Kundu & Kumar, 2017; Mehta & Kumar, 2019c; Mehta et al., 2020; Singh & George,
2017).
All this reflects the inefficient and inept system of statistics management and
calls for immediate redressal. Although this has been incorporated in the vision
documents, the execution and progress towards these need to be demonstrated with
collective confidence.
It must be noted that the Program Implementation part of MoSPI is regressive.
It is still dependent upon the 20-point program of the year 2006, over which each
year the progress is made. Therefore, with changing times and agenda precision, it

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is important to review the program objectives, to provide fresh insights into the
achievements and also provide a way forward to address the gaps.
It is the first time that we are gearing up for a digital census - both the
Population Census and Economic Census (already under process), and the National
Population Register (NPR) will decide the actual frame. The importance of NPR
cannot be underrated. While NPR was used for the first time in 2010, the issue has
become so contentious over the past 4-5 months, it becomes doubtful whether the
citizens would provide accurate and voluntary information or not, or it will simply
become a lengthy and futile exercise to produce a good database,
Linking of the Census and NPR raises technical and operational questions, for
instance, in 2011, the NPR tagged to the house-listing schedule had serious coverage
issues, with about 60 million people missing, and this coupled with the fact that the
NPR data is certainly not required for targeting purposes raises the question of its
utility, since it is collected at enormous physical and financial costs when Aadhaar-
based biometric identification numbers with higher coverage are already available
(Kumar & Mohanan, 2020).

Discussion

From the above discussion, it is clear that there are several sources of data in India,
among which the major ones are MoSPI’s CSO, NSO, Economic Census, Agriculture
Census, ASI, and others. It needs to be mentioned here that the methodology of
estimation of national accounts is almost a decade old, and in the absence of
updated data, the sub-national accounts are being hindered due to the non-
incorporation of the latest data. In such a situation, the absence of clarity of the
statistics hinders the work of the researchers and remains futile for even the DES,
which otherwise could have enabled them to arrive at robust and insightful state or
district estimates. Based on the relevant updated methodology for estimation by the
CSO, which the DES takes time to comprehend, the latter tends to come up with
consolidated data after several years, for instance, the data on the beneficiaries of
any government scheme, data on migration (released after 10 years), among others.
This leads to a loss in utility and purpose since under the prevailing situation several
updates on the existing data have already taken place. As a result, there emerges a
vicious circle of delay in data production and the consequent addition of backlogs of
the latest data. In this age of digital information, the private sector is much better
equipped and is racing ahead of the public sector in generating data. This has further
strengthened the state versus market debate. This type of bureaucratic complexity
is unique to India and is unseen in any developed or emerging economy. China, for
example, invites a global audience when it releases and presents the country’s
quarterly and annual estimates. Such an exercise infuses credibility and consistency
in data, ushering in trust among the people, as a smooth program implementation is
entirely dependent upon it. In the absence of such a mechanism in India, appropriate
planning for government work cannot be done and hence ambitious projects often
evaporate into thin air. This has lately brought the entire system of statistics - from
the government to the grassroots - under a lot of criticism.

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Therefore, it is important to have annual white papers produced by each district,

and competition must be instilled among the districts on which district produces the
best and first data. For this, more financial empowerment of the MoSPI is needed,
which will cater to the various challenges in terms of data production and re-instill
the sense of it being a trustworthy, professional, and credible institution in the minds
of the people.
As India traversed from the five-year plans of the erstwhile Planning
Commission to the short-, medium- and long-term vision reports of the NITI Aayog,
one thing remained unchanged, i.e., dependency on the decadal Census data for its
various plan measures. As we move towards New India with a US$ 5 trillion economy,
it becomes important to incorporate, report, and disseminate data for their proper
utilization, application and furtherance of research and development. In the age of
Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) and experimental methods for evidence-based
policymaking, monitoring and evaluation, as well as evidence-based research, suffer
in the absence of adequate data, periodic monitoring, reporting, and evaluation. As
a result, the situation of the availability and coherence of financial and fiscal data
becomes more complex and cumbersome.
The Indian Statistical System is faced with real-time and complex challenges.
For instance, for the first time, the Census would be recorded on handheld devices.
MoSPI has been using these devices for all its surveys for some time now. However
several experts have raised doubts on the estimates and credibility of data produced
through such exercises. It has been mentioned that not every government report
must be accepted, as sometimes institutions fail to produce a credible report.
Sometimes it must be recognized that the statistical institution of a country can fail
the most basic of ‘smell’ tests and is in dire need of reforms (Bhalla, 2019). As
mentioned above, there are no sectors left untouched by questions on the credibility
of their data. However, these experts have been shown to switch positions and
arguments on the credibility debate of the statistics, thereby presenting serious
concerns about the integrity of the data in front of the whole world.
Despite the criticisms, there can be no denying that the official economic
statistics continue to remain the most valued, appropriate, rich and reliable for
informed research and policymaking.
When criticized for the declining growth of the economy, the government has
on several occasions produced counter-facts from other sources of non-traditional
indicators/statistics like the MUDRA, Foreign Direct Investment, Jan Dhan Yojana,
GST, etc. Through these indicators, it has been shown that the number of
beneficiaries who actually benefited from the flagship schemes have increased, and
hence have contributed to the growth of the country. Therefore, all available and
comparative data sources must be incorporated while making any argument or
perspective.
Due to a perceived lag in decadal Census data and the periodicity accrued
due to it, a credibility crisis of data was also experienced in the mid-to-late 1990s.
As a result, the interim reform mechanism for statistics came with the establishment
of the NSC in the year 2000. Although the Census remains the most credible and rich
source of information for almost all experts, its reading, understanding, analysis,
and reporting presents changes as per convenience.

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Instead of organizing hackathons and competitions to crack big data, etc., the focus
must be on making the statistical architecture more open and credible. This is
because official data is used primarily by researchers and policymakers, and hence
a sense of trust and confidence must be built between the two so that
experts/specialists committed to the cause of harnessing official data for the greater
good are effectively utilized by the government. This must not be done by simply
outsourcing the survey requirements to some other government agency, but instead,
new dedicated private professional organizations must be handheld to develop their
potential at par with international standards to cater to the new economy in India
and abroad. Only then, India would lead by example, or become the “Vishwa Guru”.
The Urban Frame Survey, Village Frame, etc. must be upgraded for real-time
information and made more dynamic, as they are used time and again. There must
be a convergence of the programs and schemes of the ministries, and space
application centers for better coordination of geo-tagging of data, data visualization
and optimum resource utilization, so that the statisticians, economists and
policymakers can comprehend the Spatial Economics for producing professional data
and planned smart development.
The coming of the era of Industry 4.0, AI, blockchain and the gig economy has
further pushed for the need for new forms of data. In the business-as-usual scenario,
it will be difficult to adapt to the needs of the changing methodology, and hence
there is a need to revamp the entire gamut of data estimation.
On several occasions in India, the economic changes are attributed to the
business or seasons or structural or simply natural or cyclical factors. This inability
to acknowledge the real reasons behind the changes leads to speculation and loss of
trust in the economy and government.
The surveys of NSO being the central sample also provide for and encourage
state governments to conduct state samples by DES, to arrive at pooled sample data
with a higher sample size for robust local-level estimates. This pooled data is very
crucial and the need of the hour for local economic planning, implementation,
monitoring and development. But there is hardly any volition from the DES to
conduct state samples and hence the local-level estimates lag in the absence of such
data.

Conclusions and Way Forward

The government departments and programs acknowledge and explain that there are
possibilities of over-reporting at the local levels, which suggests that the data entry
processes have been fabricated on a very large scale leading to false data reporting
in the past and thus needs to be carefully checked in future. The programs and
schemes also focus on timely achievement; therefore, they require stringent
measures to ensure that the data provided at the local and state level on the MIS
database must not suffer from false reporting and that the credibility of these
important administrative statistics is restored. This is because ICT will be extensively
used in the days to come with the requirements of new sources of data, for example,
payroll data, night lights data, GIS data, mobile phones, and big data.

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In this situation, the limitations in capturing the new sectors of the gig economy and
in the sectoral level data collection as well as addressing the multiple sources of
structural issues becomes imperative.
The commendable contribution of MoSPI in producing the Swachh Survekshan
2016 to understand the impact of the Swachh Bharat Mission must be replicated for
generating each of the various other datasets in a similar proactive fashion. While
several outcomes of the Swachh Survekshan can be contested, the timeliness
adhered to understanding the implications of the government scheme cannot be
underrated. Only when such a proactive approach of MoSPI is visible, then the
program implementation part exhibit vibrancy and dynamism.
The MIS data has taken cognizance of these issues and made several
recommendations for improvements in monitoring such as maintaining names,
initiatives using ICT technology with information on the geographical location and
so on. However, the actual usage of these along with time-bound reporting happens
to be very low. While the role of ICT has helped to improve the system for
information collection and monitoring, the massive scale at which this technology
has to be used in a time-bound manner, especially in rural areas remains a challenge,
along with concerns of professional data entry and ensuring quality.
The administrative/MIS database which provides periodic real-time
information using ICT by every local level unit can be a very useful, effective,
economical and sustainable source of information. The real-time information from
MIS should be effectively used and applied to the geographic information system to
analyze spatial information. It can also provide visualization to GPs which can be
very useful for administrative purposes, spatial and micro-planning, and local
resource management.
While the proposed upgradation of MIS to enable reporting is a step forward;
past experiences with the information based on MIS provided by local levels raise a
question on ‘reliability’ and suggest that focus is needed to ensure trust in this
database maintained by the government offices. In the absence of trust, economic
transactions in society are adversely impacted, ultimately yielding to a slowdown of
economic activity, and eventually, stagnation (Singh, 2019).
The census-NPR debate, for instance, has become intertwined with other
controversies over official Government data. This has portrayed the present decade
as disastrous for public data in India and warrants an urgent response to uphold the
integrity and credibility of our statistical institutions (Kumar & Mohanan, 2020).
Therefore, India must strengthen the credibility of its national statistical system,
and its plans to centralize the data in the MoSPI must be an informed and cautious
exercise, as it can become a hurdle for its quick and timely release for public
research and debate (Kundu, 2019).
There is an immediate need to strengthen and empower the Gram
Panchayats, Blocks, and Districts with sufficient infrastructure, capacity building
and resources for periodic, quality and sustainable data reporting and maintaining a
reliable database at par with the international level and standards, MoSPI can
certainly play a holistic role here.
Thus, more emphasis is needed on building processes and institutions at the
very grassroots levels to ensure no leakages and act as a modern digital database for

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evidence-based policymaking and timely achievement of program output ensuring

accountability and transparency. Constant monitoring and evaluation, as well as
scrutiny and validation from various available official data sources at various
disaggregated levels, is necessary along with village/district level studies on best
practices.
Special attention for effective inclusion in implementation is needed towards
backward districts, regions, and hamlets of marginalized sections within villages.
The desired collective behavioral change also requires a change in the social climate
and necessitates ‘behavior change’ within the government up to the local levels to
create the enabling ecosystem. The implementation processes need to be packed
up, raised civic conscience needs to be converted into a public movement and
sustained for years ahead. The delay in work execution along with financial delays
requires to be addressed immediately with effective monitoring and scrutiny with
the help of MoSPI.
Since the Indian statistical system is severely underfunded and understaffed,
large investments in terms of financial and human resources are urgently needed to
strengthen the system (Chandrashekhar, 2019). These investments become pertinent
to bring to reality the Prime Minister’s vision for a digital India. In this new digital
India, the way data is collected, the way it is analyzed, and the way it is consumed
needs serious reassessment. The need is to broaden the scope beyond its traditional
role of keeping account of economic activity in the economy and instead focus on
providing real-time business intelligence for informed policymaking. Having a
common data architecture, based on accepted definitions, for every sector is
important as it helps in reducing the cost of data collection, and facilitates informed
and precise policy action to reach the targeted population.
Since there are so many changes and reform measures being undertaken in
the country, we propose holding the census every five years instead of the present
decadal system, as it also provides migration data at the district and town level
(Kumar & Mohanan, 2020).
However, sufficient data is not available on the living arrangements of the
migrants, and their economic or occupational engagements, especially at city levels.
(Mohanan & Kumar, 2020). The Census does provide aggregated numbers with limited
qualitative dimensions, but we do not have any intercensal surveys to project the
census migration data before the next census (Mohanan and Kumar, 2020).
Organizing such an intercensal survey, as done in many countries, can also mitigate
this deficiency in the Indian data system to a large extent (Kumar & Mohanan, 2020).
It will keep the information database updated and vibrant. Proper policy planning
and decision-making can be ensured through this change.
Further, we recommend consistency in the calculation of the GDP data. The
methodology adopted in the calculation of the data must be clarified and made
coherent to avoid confusion by often changing the base years in determining the
growth challenges and prospects of the country. Equally important for the
government is to be punctual in the release of the data. It has been proposed that
the government make a prior announcement of the timeline of the release of the
data, and more importantly stick to it, which will help maintain its sanctity (Sen,

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2020). This will demonstrate its commitment to facilitating appropriate measures

for the benefit of the citizens through its various schemes.
The road to improving the credibility of official statistics would take a long time
with a broad consensus that much will depend on effective leadership. Disentangling
the overlapping functions of various statistical bodies and creating uniformity and
cohesiveness in the duties and responsibilities along with empowering the NSC are
the best steps forward to ensure credible, accessible, and legible economic
statistics. MoSPI needs to regain and retain the authority over-collection and storage
of data from the local level, and not let it become overly spread out.
The system of official economic statistics in India now faces the challenge of
adapting to Information and Communication Technology. The paper thus emphasizes
the role of strengthening real-time and Management Information Systems data to
enable evidence-based policymaking and planning and realize the vision of ‘New
India’ and a US$ 5 trillion economy.

Acknowledgment

This paper was presented at the 38th Annual Conference of the Indian Association
for Research in National Income and Wealth (IARNIW) on 26 and 27 September 2020.
The authors would like to thank the organizers and attendees for their constructive
suggestions, in particular, Dr S. L. Shetty, Dr J. Dennis Rajakumar, Dr Shailja Sharma,
Dr A. K. Laha and Rajiv Kumar. The authors are also grateful to P. C. Mohanan, Dr G.
C. Manna, Prof. Sukhadeo Thorat, Prof. Govind Kelkar, Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Prof.
Alakh N. Sharma, Ajaya Kumar Naik, Dr Sandip Sarkar, Dr Balwant Singh Mehta, Dr
Soumyadip Chattopadhyay, Sameer Unhale, Dr Rashmi Singh and Dr Nitin Tagade for
their insightful comments. This research has been carried out by the Generation
Alpha Data Centre (Gen-α DC) under the Impact and Policy Research Institute
(IMPRI), New Delhi.

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