The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) held a meeting on Tuesday with its officials, economists and forecasters to address delays and propose improvements in key macroeconomic data, focusing on growth and inflation metrics.
Saurabh Garg, Secretary, MoSPI, highlighted various macro-economic indicators released by MoSPI and also updated about the Base Year revision initiated for GDP, CPI and IIP.
Garg announced plans to launch a web-based CAPEX survey to close gaps in private sector investment data and praised eSankhyiki portal for easy access of time series data on the released indicators.
Changes proposed for GDP data
The suggestions were made to emphasise the spatial dimension of GDP by introducing disaggregated data, such as urban versus rural breakdowns and district-level domestic product estimates. Also, to reduce discrepancies in GDP estimation between the two prevailing approaches.
Furthermore, It was also suggested to shorten the lag in the release of GDP data and adjusting release timings to provide users ample opportunity for same-day analysis.
Changes for CPI Data
In terms of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), stakeholders have proposed conducting more frequent Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys to enable timely base revisions of CPI and other macroeconomic indicators.
They also pushed for access to historical indices to facilitate chain-linking and urged MoSPI to explore broader coverage of services in the revised CPI series.
There was also a recommendation for MoSPI to hold regular consultations to clarify methodologies for collecting data on education, health services, and housing.
The ministry may consider compiling core inflation data, and it was suggested that employer-provided dwellings be excluded from the CPI to ensure consistency. A review of the housing index compilation methodology was also recommended.
The interaction was attended by Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor, and Nilesh Shah, Member of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.
Economists like Ganesh Kumar, Member, National Statistical Commission, Ila Patnaik, Former Principal Economic Advisor, Deepak Mishra, Director, ICRIER were also present.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Citibank, ICICI Prudential AMC, Sunidhi Securities & Finance Ltd, Bloomberg Economics, Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities, Nirmal Bang, RBL Bank, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, ICICI Bank, ICICI Bank Ltd attended the event too.
