India subscribed to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) on December 27, 1996 and started posting its metadata on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) on October 30, 1997. According to a 2004 IMF Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC), and information provided on the DSBB, India meets the SDDS specifications for the timeliness, periodicity and coverage for most data categories. For data on labor market employment, labor market unemployment, labor market wages and earnings, and general government or public sector operation, India uses the flexibility option. According to a 2007 IMF report, the Indian authorities are planning further improvements in the timeliness, periodicity, and coverage of data in a number of statistical areas. India meets the requirements of the SDDS in terms of access to data by the public. According to information provided on the DSBB, India meets most of the SDDS requirements for integrity and quality of data, but falls short in that it does not address terms of confidentiality for certain data categories and does not provide advance notice of methodological changes.

General Overview

According to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) 2006 Article IV Consultation Report, while India's macroeconomic statistics are adequate for surveillance, weaknesses remain in the timeliness and coverage of certain statistical series. India has an elaborate system for compiling economic and financial statistics and produces a vast quantity of data covering virtually all sectors of the economy. India subscribed to the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) on December 27, 1996 and started posting its metadata on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) on October 30, 1997. It is currently in observance of the SDDS, although it uses flexibility options for timeliness of data on general government operations and on the periodicity and timeliness of labor market data. The authorities are planning further improvements in the timeliness, periodicity, and coverage of data in a number of statistical areas. (IMF 2007, p. 55)

The official institutions responsible for the compilation and dissemination of the SDDS prescribed data categories are the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoS), Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Commerce and Industry; Ministry of Finance (MoF), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the Office of the Registrar General of India (Census of India). The MoS compiles and disseminates data on the national accounts, the production index, consumer price index for urban non-manual employees (CPI-UNME) and the labor market. The Labor Bureau of the Ministry of Labor compiles and disseminates data on the consumer price indexes for industrial workers (CPI-IW), rural laborers (CPI-RL), and agricultural laborers (CPI-AL). The Ministry of Commerce and Industry compiles and disseminates merchandise trade; the Office of the Economic Advisor of this Ministry compiles and disseminates the wholesale price index. The MoF compiles and disseminates data on central government operations and central government debt. The RBI has responsibility for the dissemination of the analytical accounts of the banking sector, the analytical accounts of the central bank, interest rates, share price index, balance of payments, the data template on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity, and international investment position data. General government operations data are compiled and disseminated by the RBI on the basis of input from the MoF. The Office of the Registrar General of India has responsibility for population data. (IMF 2004, p. 6)

The Indian authorities are presently addressing a number of data compilation issues, such as, the revision of statistical and data reporting methods in order to keep pace with the shift to a more market-oriented economy following the elimination of industrial licensing; and the need for the CSO to initiate procedures through which its interaction with other agencies in the decentralized statistical system is made more proactive as well as effective, such as the planned establishment of the National Statistical Commission. (IMF 2007, p. 57)

While the concepts and definitions used to compile balance of payments statistics are broadly in line with the fifth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual (BPM5), the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) presentation does not follow the BPM5. Furthermore, trade data have quality, valuation, timing, and coverage problems, and data on trade prices and volumes are not regularly available on a timely basis (a committee will examine the base year of trade indices). The RBI website and the RBI Bulletin publish a wide array of monetary and financial statistics, including interest rates, exchange rates, foreign reserves, the monetary survey, and results of government securities auctions. The frequency and quality of data dissemination have improved substantially in recent years. (IMF 2007, p. 56)

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) posts selected central government monthly fiscal data and quarterly debt data on its website. However, no monthly data on fiscal performance at the state level are available, and annual data are available only with an eight-to-ten-month lag. Consolidated information is unavailable on local government operations. In addition, data on the functional and economic classification of expenditures are available with considerable lag. There is also scope to improve the analytical usefulness of the presentation of the fiscal accounts. (IMF 2007, p. 57)

The Principles

Comprehensive economic and financial data, disseminated on a timely basis.

CP

According to the information provided by India on the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB), India complies with the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) requirements on data coverage, periodicity, and timeliness for most data categories. However, it avails of the flexibility option for four categories, namely labor market employment, labor market unemployment, labor market wages and earnings, and general government or public sector operation. For these data, India avails itself of the timeliness and periodicity flexibility options. (IMF SDDS website)

According to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) 2006 Article IV Consultation Report, while India's macroeconomic statistics are adequate for surveillance, weaknesses remain in the timeliness and coverage of certain statistical series. The Indian authorities are planning further improvements in the timeliness, periodicity, and coverage of data in a number of statistical areas. (IMF 2007, p. 55)

Ready and equal access to official statistics.

FC

According to the information provided by India on the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB), data are released simultaneously to all interested parties and advance release calendars are provided for all data categories. (IMF SDDS website)

According to a 2004 IMF Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC), India meets the requirements of the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) in terms of access to data by the public. Advance release calendars that meet the SDDS requirements are disseminated on the Internet websites of the data producing agencies. These advance release calendars are supplemented by a quarter-ahead presentation of release dates on the DSBB. (IMF 2004, p. 6)

Official statistics must have the confidence of their users. Transparency of its practices and procedures is a key factor.

CP

According to data provided on the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB), the terms and conditions under which data are released are clearly stipulated in various laws and decrees, and the terms of confidentiality of individually identifiable information are clearly defined for most categories. However, for seven data categories information on confidentiality is not clearly stated on the DSBB. (IMF SDDS website)

Ministerial commentary and internal government access to data prior to release is identifiable for all data categories. (IMF SDDS website)

Prior notices are given in case of revisions; however advance notice of methodological changes for several data categories are not clearly stated on the IMF's DSBB. (IMF SDDS website)

According to a 2004 IMF Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC), the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) requirement on disclosure of information on terms and conditions that govern the collection, compilation, and dissemination of data, including the confidentiality of the data collected, is available to the public - in electronic and non-electronic formats - in English. Procedures on internal access to the data prior to public release are mostly disseminated on the DSBB for the data categories to which they apply. Data released by the Indian statistical agencies are not accompanied by ministerial commentary. (IMF 2004, p. 8)

A set of standards that deals with the coverage, periodicity and timeliness of data must also address the quality of statistics.

CP

According to the information provided by India on the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB), there is dissemination of documentation on statistical methodology and dissemination of component detail, reconciliations with related data, and statistical frameworks that make possible cross-checks and checks of reasonableness. However summary methodologies are not provided for central government debt data and population data. (IMF SDDS website)

According to a 2004 IMF Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC), Indian statistical agencies demonstrate awareness of quality as the cornerstone of statistical work and have an institutional framework that supports statistical quality. However, much of the basic data for the national accounts originate from a strongly decentralized administrative system comprising various ministries, state departments, and local agencies, and there are indications that the coordination between these units has deteriorated as the economy has liberalized. India's ongoing liberalization will require substantial modernization of the statistical system, and a strengthening of the legal foundations of data collection. (IMF 2004, p. 3)

Methodological information disseminated by the Indian statistical agencies through regular publications and the Internet is, in some cases, less than adequate for explaining concepts, sources, and methods used, and identifying differences from internationally accepted conventions. Indian statistical agencies generally disseminate component details and additional data series that make possible crosschecks and checks of reasonableness for all data categories as prescribed by the SDDS. (IMF 2004, pp. 8-9)