Government-appointed committee suggests restructure of GDP data & other estimates for states

On April 21, 2020 A government-appointed committee for sub-national accounts has suggested a complete restructure of how states collect and compile data for state-level gross domestic product (GDP) and other estimates. Committee headed by Ravindra H Dholakia suggests restructure of GDP data & other estimates for statesThe final report  submitted on March 16 suggests the following

i.The goods and services tax (GST) to be used for estimating incomes and other statistics at the state level.

ii.In order to formulate more accurate estimates, the states should compile their own index of industrial production (IIP) rather than relying on the all-India IIP data

iii.It emphasized the need for a dynamic and sector-specific business register & for more accurate estimation, the databases of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), GST and the Central Bureau of Direct Taxes (CBDT) can be used.

iv.The GST data has yet to be made available for regular use in estimation.

About the committee:
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) on June 30, 2018  formed a 13 member committee to review the methodology of estimation of sub-national accounts ( state & district), revise the base year for national accounts or GDP calculation & suggest recommendations. It is headed by Ravindra H Dholakia, a retired professor of IIM Ahmedabad.

• The Central Statistics Office (CSO), MOSOPI, will revise the base year of the macroeconomic indicators, as a regular exercise, to capture structural changes in the economy and to improve the quality and representativeness of the indices.

Terms of Reference of the Committee

i.It will review the concepts, definitions, classifications, data conventions, data sources and data requirements for preparation of State Domestic Product (SDP) and District Domestic Product (DDP) and also lay down revised guidelines.

ii.Suggest measures to improve the SDP & DDP in the country by taking into consideration the availability of data and requirements of the Centre and states/union territories.

iii.Suggest state-level annual/benchmark surveys keeping in view the needs of the system of national accounts particularly in view of the next base year revision

iv.The panel will submit the report within one year and may also submit interim reports, as necessary.