According to those acquainted with the situation, India's government is preparing to take many actions to enhance the caliber of its economic data, one of which is initiating a long-overdue population census.
Also, the people who asked not to be named since the talks are confidential, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office has examined a number of ideas from the Statistics Ministry in the last month.
According to the sources, these include bringing back the company survey, which was last published in 2014, and yearly publication of the home consumption survey. According to them, it also intends to update the basket of products used to calculate inflation and provide a standard base year for important indicators.
After the elections are over, the government is also thinking about conducting another population count, the persons added. The most recent survey was postponed because to the pandemic, however the census is typically carried out once every ten years. It was last published in 2011.
India's statistical system has long been in need of revision, as economists have demanded, and Modi's own economic advisory council has expressed reservations about the data's accuracy. Official statistics are coming under more scrutiny as a result of India's economy rising quickly and the growing interest of foreign investors. Errors in policy are also increased when old surveys are relied upon. Requests for additional information were not answered by the Prime Minister's Office or the Statistics Ministry of India.
According to the people, the census will involve the training and deployment of almost 300,000 government workers to count the population of the most populous country in the world. According to one of the participants, the survey exercise would probably go for almost a year.
Panel of Advisors
According to the people, officials would gain a better understanding of the economy's shift from farming to other industries with the revival of the business survey. The government hopes to use the study to better target its policies at the manufacturing sector, which has been losing ground to other industries as a percentage of the GDP over the years. The government intended to increase the ratio to 25% by 2025, although the World Bank projects it would be roughly 13% in 2022.
Consumer inflation is now computed using 2012 as the base year, whereas industrial production and GDP numbers are based on 2011–12. Every few years, statistics organizations typically modify base years to more accurately depict evolving economic and spending trends.
According to the individuals, the consumer price basket would also be updated to reflect changes in Indian consumer spending, such as less money spent on food and more money contributed to digital goods like mobile charges. Furthermore, as per a recent household consumption study, throughout the previous ten years, both urban and rural households' percentage of food expenditure has decreased.
