The Union government plans to overhaul the entire statistical system of the country. The plan includes undertaking additional surveys, fixing data leakages, improving frequency of the survey releases, and tweaking the methodology of computing several macro-economic indicators, said the Financial Express citing unnamed officials.
The overhaul of the statistical system is a top priority is a part of the 100-day plan of the government. The 100-day plan prepared by the statistics ministry earlier is being reviewed at the moment, the official reportedly said.
Under consideration are ways and means to minimise errors and discrepancies in important macro-economic indicators, such as GDP and IIP, which are released on a periodic basis. Besides, the ministry is considering undertaking a quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), an indicator for unemployment, for rural areas. Currently, rural unemployment is part of the Annual PLFS exercise; and only urban unemployment is reflected in the quarterly PLFS data.
The delay in the release of essential macro data and frequent revisions has a major impact on the policy making exercise of the government, say economists. The GDP data for instance is crucial for the Budget making process, as well as monetary policy decisions. A sharp revision, either upwards or downwards, may create a situation of error, and can dent the policy’s impact.
Discrepancy is a component within the national income data. In the expenditure method, it’s that column which reflects the amount within GDP that has not been allocated to other components, such as investments or consumption. Notably, in FY24, due to its size, discrepancy added 4.2 percentage points to growth, which came in at 8.2%, say economists. The statistics ministry is aiming to reduce the quantum of discrepancy, and is holding consultations.
FE had reported earlier that the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) is likely to undertake many more surveys, on the request of other ministries.
In FY24, several ministries including agriculture, commerce, labour, tourism and health had separately written to the statistics ministry for technical and manpower support for these additional statistical exercises. The areas covered in the proposed surveys include tourism footfall surveys of different states, ailments among the elderly and price estimation of industrial inputs.