It may soon be possible to find out the level of employment and inflation or the size of the economy or factory output in any district of the country. India is working on mapping economic activity across districts through various statistical surveys planned from next year, as it eyes a significant expansion of official statistics coverage. The microdata is expected to improve policy making.
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation) plans to have district-level estimates by engaging states and using techniques such as web-based surveys to compile data at the ground level. “We will have more estimates at the district level. By January next year, each survey should come out with national, state and district-level estimates,” a senior government official told ET. Currently, state-level data such as GSDP (gross state domestic product) is available, but detailed information at the district level is scarce. Some states have initiated efforts in this direction, but there is a lack of comprehensive data sources at the district level.
According to the official, such micro data would require changes in sample size and sampling methodology and the ministry has sought a technical view on the issue.
As part of the planned official data overhaul, the ministry also aims to complete the Aadhaar revision exercise for the national accounts by early 2026.
next base year
Estimates for the new base are likely to be released in February 2026. The base year for most Macroeconomic Data At present the base year is FY12 and the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is likely to place FY23 or FY24 as the next base year before the Advisory Committee. National Accounts StatisticsWhich is overseeing the revision of the base year for national accounts.
“The Aadhaar revision will improve GDP calculations by incorporating new and latest data sources from surveys and administrative data,” the official said. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a new data source that can be used to estimate GDP, he said. Also, to enhance the quality of data, the deflator method will be improved. The ministry intends to eliminate the single deflator method, which it says is a less robust way to arrive at realistic estimates. The deflator is used to remove the impact of inflation from national account estimates.
Updated Survey
In addition to increasing the frequency of Periodic Labour Force Survey As per the (PLFS), the survey has been simplified to monthly for urban areas and quarterly for rural areas from January 2026, to reduce the burden and fatigue of respondents. Currently these surveys are conducted quarterly and annually respectively.
This will involve three separate questionnaires for food items, consumables and service goods, and durable goods, as well as three separate monthly visits for these three questionnaires to reduce the burden on respondents.
“We are also paying attention to the length of the questionnaires so that they are not cumbersome,” the official said.
Domestic tourism expenditure survey, national domestic travel survey, a complete survey on health, a survey on education indicators and a visionary survey on private sector capital expenditure are being planned in FY25 and FY26. FY27 will have a survey on living conditions of tribes in India and an all-India credit and investment survey and situation assessment survey to assess the overall health of the economy.
