7-Compilation of National Accounts Statistics in India - A Historical Perspective

7/30/2019 7-Compilation of National Accounts Statistics in India - A Historical Perspective

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COMPILATION OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS STATISTICSIN INDIA: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Ramesh Kolli

National Accounts Division, Central Statistical Organisation

JELClassification: E01

National Income estimation has a long history in India. Several national and

international experts have made contributions in enriching the compilation of

national income in India. The paper provides a historical record of thedevelopment and the current status of the National Accounts Statistics in India.

I. Estimates of National Income before Independence

The national income estimation has a long history in India and several attempts were made in

the past by individual economists and researchers to estimate the income of the country. The

initial focus of these researchers was on computing nations income. Though the official

estimates of national income are available on regular basis since 1948-49 (first published in

1956), as many as 44 point estimates of either the national income or income relating to a part

of the country (for example, a state) are available in the literature covering the period ranging

from the second half of the nineteenth century to 1948-49. The statement presenting certain

broad details about these estimates, reproduced from Mukherjee (1969), is at Annex-1. All theseefforts were based essentially on macro level data and involved a number of assumptions for

want of requisite data and adequate resources, and, therefore, these estimates were not

comparable. However, these studies provided a base for post Independence work on the subject

and for the preparation of official estimates of national income on a scientific and regular basis.

II. National Income Committee

After Independence, attention was paid to the development of official estimates of national

income and related aggregates. Recognising the need for providing estimates of national

income on a regular basis, the Government of India set up a High Powered Expert Committee

in 1949 known as National Income Committee under the Chairmanship of Prof. P.C.

Mahalanobis, with Prof. D.R. Gadgil and Prof. V.K.R.V. Rao as members, to makerecommendations regarding the compilation of national income estimates, the improvement of

the statistical data base on which the estimates were to be based and to suggest measures to

promote research in the field of national income.

For assisting the Committee, a National Income Unit (NIU) was set up in the Ministry of

Finance. This Committee provided the estimates of national income for the entire Indian

Union, for the first time. The estimates and details of methodology adopted were published in

the First and Final reports of the National Income Committee brought out by the Ministry of

Finance in 1951 and 1954, respectively. The Committee recommended preparation of national

income estimates on a regular (annual) basis.

The Journal of income and wealth, Vol. 29, No. 1, January-June 2007


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94 THE JOURNAL OF INCOME AND WEALTH

Accepting this recommendation of the Committee, the Government of India transferredthe entire establishment of NIU, then working for the National Income Committee, to the

Ministry of Finance to take charge of the national income work, on a regular basis. The NIU

was subsequently transferred to the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) in 1954 and later a

full-fledged National Income Division (NID) was created in the CSO. The NID is now

designated as the National Accounts Division (NAD) in conformity with the expansion of its

activity, beyond mere compilation of national income.

While executing its responsibilities, the National Income Committee received the advisory

help of international experts namely, Professor Simon Kuznets, National Bureau of Economic

Research, USA; Prof. J.R.N. Stone, Department of Applied Economics, University of

Cambridge and Dr. J.B.D. Derksen, National Income Unit, United Nations Statistical Office.

Prof. Simon Kuznets reviewed comprehensively the national income estimates and related

aggregates of India and presented his report in January, 1957 wherein he offered several

suggestions mainly relating to (a) status of national income as it emerged in the report of the

National Income Committee and annual publications, National Accounts Statistics (b) other

aspects and distribution of national income which need to be included in this publication on

regular basis, (c) timing of national income estimates and character of their presentation and

(d) institutional arrangements. He reiterated the suggestions of National Income Committee for

setting up of an Advisory Committee comprising of established authorities, to guide the future

course of action and allied matters relating to the estimation of national income and related

aggregates. He emphasized that Advisory Committee members should be given the opportunity

to shape the course of work in this field which is of utmost importance to the development of

economic intelligence in the country. Prof. J.R.N. Stone who visited India in 1950-51 as anAdviser to the then National Income Committee did considerable work on factor breakdowns

of national income, some results of which were incorporated in one of the working papers of

the NIU entitled Memorandum on the Forms of Accounts January, 1951 (mimeo).

The National Income Committee in its First Report submitted in April, 1951 presented

estimates of net output of Indian Union for 1948-49 along with a framework of social

accounts which was drawn up by Prof. J.R.N. Stone. In its Final Report, submitted in

February 1954, the Committee gave the detailed methodology for compilation of sectoral

estimates and the national income estimates for the years 1948-49 (improved), 1949-50 and

1950-51.

III. Conventional Series of NAS (with base 1948-49)Following the work of Prof. J.R.N. Stone, research on national accounts in India was

undertaken by many scholars. Two of the earliest papers on the subject were by Dandekar

(1951) and Ghosh (1951), the former discussing conceptual questions and the latter

presenting a national accounting framework. The First Report of the NIC (1951) presented a

simple system in which some entries were left blank. Mukherjee (1954 a) attempted to fill in

some of the gaps with almost notional entries and suggested separate urban and rural accounts

with a connecting link. Mukherjee (1954 b) also developed a framework of a complete

interflow matrix of the type used by Ragnar Frisch. Barpujari (1960) first presented complete

national accounts for India for the years 1951-52 to 1955-56 in which the framework given by


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COMPILATION OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS STATISTICS IN INDIA 95

NIC was used. Economic accounts for developing countries were discussed by Mukherjee,Uma Datta Roy Choudhury and Prasada Rao (1975).

As per the methodology and the pattern of presentation recommended by the National

Income Committee, the first official estimates of national income were prepared by the CSO

with base year 1948-49 for the estimates at constant prices. These estimates at constant

(1948-49) prices along with the corresponding estimates at current prices and the accounts of

the Public Authorities were published in the publication, Estimates of National Income in

1956. This series, commonly known as the conventional series continued to be published till

1966 under the same title.

IV. First Revision of NAS Series (Base year 1960-61)

With the gradual improvement in the availability of basic data over the years, a review of

methodology for national income estimation and its extension to other fields of macro

economic aggregates was undertaken, with a view to update the database and shifting the base

year from 1948-49 to a more recent year. Special efforts in this regard were made for a

comprehensive review of all available data, both published and unpublished. The first results of

these efforts were presented in the National Income Statistics-Proposals for a Revised Series

for national Income Estimates, 1955-56 1959-60 (CSO, 1961). These proposals were

discussed at a specially organized seminar under the auspices of the Indian Association for

Research in National Income and Wealth (IARNIW). In the light of the views expressed in the

Seminar, several follow up studies were undertaken. The proposals, as improved/amended on

the basis of the studies, alongwith estimates as per the revised series of national income with

1960-61 as new base for estimates at constant prices were published in the Brochure on theRevised Series of National Product, 1960-61 to 1964-65 (CSO, 1967) replacing the earlier

series with base 1948-49.

Simultaneously, work on the estimation of related aggregates like capital formation and

saving for the years 1960-61 to 1965-66 was also undertaken. These estimates were published

with corresponding methodology in two special brochures, (i) National Income Statistics

Estimates of Capital Formation in India, 1960-61 (hereafter referred to as 1960-61 series), the

title of the annual publication was changed to Estimates of National Product.

The coverage of the publication was extended gradually from time to time to incorporate

the estimates of private consumption expenditure, saving, capital formation, factor incomes,

consolidated accounts of the nation and detailed accounts of public sector. The title of the

publication was, therefore, again changed to the present title National Accounts Statistics(NAS) with effect from January 1975 to depict the expanded scope of the publication.

Further, to meet the demand of the users a special supplement, National Accounts

Statistics, 1960-61 to 1972-73 Disaggregated Tables (CSO, 1975) was brought out. This

publication included disaggregated tables on output, input, value added, private consumption

expenditure, saving and capital formation. While the publication presented the estimates at

current prices for the years 1960-61 to 1972-73, those at constant (1960-61) prices were

presented for the entire period of 1950-51 to 1972-73. From the subsequent issue, the NAS,

1976, all those tables presented in the special supplement became regular features of the

publication, NAS.


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V . Second Revision of NAS Series (Base year 1970-71)

The base year of the revised series was subsequently changed from 1960-61 to 1970-71

(hereinafter referred to as 1970-71 series) and the estimates according to 1970-71 series were

published in NAS, January 1978. These estimates were based on the more current available

data from various sources, like population census, livestock census, various sample surveys

and ad-hoc studies. The scope, coverage and methodology of the estimates were same as for

the earlier series included in NAS October, 1976. Both 1960-61 series and 1970-71 series are

known as revised series.

The detailed methodology of estimation and data sources used in the revised series was

brought out in the special publication entitled National Accounts Statistics: Sources &

Methods. April 1980 (CSO, 1980). The subsequent revisions/changes in the methodology/

data base were given in the Notes on Methodology in various issues of NAS as also in aspecial article published in the Monthly Abstract of Statistics, October, 1985. In order to have

comparable series of macro economic aggregates resulting from the change of base year to

1970-71, the estimates for the previous years upto 1950-51 at 1970-71 prices were prepared

and published in 1979 and 1980 issues of NAS.

VI. Third Revision of NAS Series (Base year 1980-81)

The CSO released a new series of national accounts aggregates with 1980-81 as base year

(hereinafter referred to as 1980-81 series) in February, 1988. This series was introduced after

a comprehensive review of the data base as well as methodology employed in the estimation of

various aggregates. It also involved a number of revisions arising out of the conceptual and

methodological improvements as well as latest available data. The revisions brought about forthe 1980-81 series were the results of a large number of studies undertaken by Reserve Bank

of India (RBI), and Directorate of Economics & Statistics (DESs) of the State Governments

and the estimation of Consumption of Fixed Capital (CFC) based on the estimates of fixed

capital stock using Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM) carried out by the NAD. The coverage

of the series was enlarged to include the new State of Sikkim. The improvements proposed for

the 1980-81 series were also considered in depth at the Pune Seminar and Conference of the

Indian Association for Research in National Income & Wealth (IARNIW) held in December,

1984 and November, 1985 respectively. These proposals and the consequential changes were

discussed in detail in the Advisory Committee on National Accounts at two meetings specially

convened for this purpose in April 1986 and June 1987. The CSO also benefited from the

suggestions received from many other experts in the field of national accounts.

Efforts were also made to use as much current data as possible to replace the proportions

based on the old bench-mark surveys. Further, the results of the latest Population Census,

Livestock Census, All India Debt & Investment Survey (AIDIS), follow up surveys of the

Economic Census (EC), Cost of Cultivation Studies (CCS) etc. were made use of. Special

mention may be made here of the data collected under the programme of follow-up surveys of

EC. The EC and its follow up surveys were particularly designed to fill the data gap pertaining

to unorganized segments of the non-agricultural sectors of the economy.

The Brochure New Series on National Accounts Statistics (with 1980-81 as the base

year) giving the estimates from1980-81 to 1985-86 as also a brief description of the


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important changes/improvements effected in the new series vis--vis the 1970-71 series wasissued in February, 1988.

The various methodological improvements carried out in 1980-81 series related to the

revised procedure of estimation of paddy, value added for textile group in case of unregistered

manufacturing, domestic product from Public Administration and Defence at constant prices,

consumption of fixed capital (CFC), consumption of textiles and other items of private final

consumption expenditure, change in stocks, losses of the departmental enterprises of the

government etc. Details of the changes effected alongwith the results of the latest census/

sources of data used in respect of each of the macro economic aggregates and also of the

transactions of the public sector are available in the publication entitled National Accounts

Statistics-Sources and Methods published in 1989.

VII. Fourth Revision of NAS Series (Base year 1993-94)

The CSO revised the 1980-81 series of national account aggregates with 1993-94 as base year

(hereafter referred to as 1993-94 series) in February, 1999. In the past, National Accounts

Statistics were mostly revised decennially changing the base to a Year synchronizing with the

year of decennial Population Census. It was primarily because the information on workforce

from the Population Census played an important role and workforce estimates in the base year,

which is conducted decennially in the years ending with 1. As a sequel to this, this series of

National Accounts Statistics should have been with the base year 1990-91. However, it was

observed that the data on worker participation rate (WPR) captured by the National Sample

Survey Organisation (NSSO) was better than the one estimated through the Population

Census. Accordingly, the CSO used the workforce estimates based on National SampleSurvey (NSS) workforce participation rates from the NSS 1993-94 (50 th Round) survey

results, and changed the base year of national accounts to 1993-94.

Of the various changes/methodological improvements effected in the new series, mention

may be made of the estimation of work force by economic activities using the worker-

population ratio and the workforce participation rates based on the quinquennial survey on

employment and unemployment conducted by the NSSO and the total population as obtained

from the 1991 Population Census, using the database on horticultural statistics released by the

National Horticulture Board (NHB) of the Ministry of Agriculture, coverage of the agricultural

production in the fore/backyard, floriculture, deep sea fishing, valuation of the output of

prawns and shrimps separately, data on which was available from the Ministry of Agriculture,

estimation of the contribution of tailoring services, public services in the quasi-governmentbodies and the contribution of Employees Provident Fund Organisation in the GDP. In the

1980-81 series imputed banking charges (financial intermediation services indirectly measured

FISIM) were being allocated to only few organised segments of the user industries and final

consumers. In the 1993-94 series, however, FISIM was allocated to all user industries in line

with the recommendations of the 1993 SNA (which came into existence during this period and

prepared under the auspices of the Inter Secretariat Working Group on National Accounts

comprising of the European Communities (EUROSTAT), International Monetary Fund (IMF),

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), United Nations and World

Bank). Further, methodology for estimating the output of insurance services was revised in

this series, as per the recommendations of 1993 SNA.


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The 1993-94 series involved a number of revisions arising out of conceptual andmethodological improvements as well as use of latest available data. The comprehensive

revisions in this series were based on a few studies initiated by the CSO. Particular mention

may be made of the three groups (separately for agriculture, industry and services)

comprising representatives of the Ministries and external specialists to examine the issue

relating the under estimation of the GDP. The suggestions of these groups were helpful in the

base revision exercise particularly in locating areas of underestimation and in identifying the

alternative sources of data for the purpose. Some of the proposals leading to the changes

employed in the new series were discussed in the Golden Jubilee Seminar of the Indian

Association for Research in National Income and Wealth (IARNIW) held at the Institute of

Economic Growth, University of Delhi during 24-26 July 1998 and also at the joint

International Conference of the IARNIW and International Association for Research in

Income and Wealth held at New Delhi during 16-20 November 1998. The changes effected in

the new series in terms of methodology, use of alternative data sources and the consequential

changes in the estimates were also deliberated upon in detail by the Advisory Committee on

National Accounts under the chairmanship of Dr. Rakesh Mohan, in its meetings held on 19th

August 1998, 6th November 1998, 19th January 1999 and 27 th January 1999.

VIII. Current Series of NAS (Base year 1999-2000)

The CSO revised the 1993-94 series of national account aggregates with 1999-2000 as base

year (hereafter referred to as new series) in February, 2006. The three major components

influencing the present revision exercise include (i) revision of base year to a more recent year

(for meaningful analysis of the structural changes in the economy), (ii) complete review of the

existing data base and methodology employed in the estimation of various macro-economic

aggregates including choice of the alternative databases on individual subjects and (iii) to the

extent feasible, implementing the recommendations of 1993 SNA.

At the time of introducing the previous series with base year 1993-94, the CSO had

announced that the future base year NAS series revisions would take place coinciding with the

NSS quinquennial surveys on employment and unemployment. In continuation with the

practice of adopting NSS employment and unemployment survey data, the new series of

national accounts released on 31st January, 2006 adopted 1999-2000 as the base year, as it has

used the data on WPR from the NSS 55 th Round survey on Employment and Unemployment,

conducted in 1999-2000. In the new series, the WPR data has been used in conjunction with

population data of the Population Census, 2001.

In addition to using the results of above surveys and censuses, the CSO entrusted a

number of studies to the State Governments, the Directorate of Economics and Statistics,

Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture (DESAg) and the Socio-

Economic Research Centre (SERC), a Delhi based NGO, for updating the rates and ratios used

in the compilation of national accounts. The CSO also conducted a study on yield rates of

meat, meat products and meat by-products through its own personnel to update the old rates

and ratios for these items. The results of the type studies considered for incorporation in the

new series relate to those conducted by (i) SERC on rates and ratios in agriculture sector,

(ii) CSO on yield rates for meat, meat products and meat by-products, (iii) CSO on yield rates

of camel hair and pig bristles, (iv) DESAg on market charges paid by the farmers,


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(v) Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Haryana, on input rates for inlandfishing, and (vi) Indian Council for Forest Research Education (ICFRE) on output of forest

products.

Improvements in Coverage

The improvements in terms of coverage in the new series in the GDP estimates have mainly

been inclusion of production of (i) salt through seawater evaporation, (ii) betel leaves (for

States of Assam & West Bengal), (iii) toddy, (iv) goat milk (in 16 States/UTs), buffalo milk (in

5 States/UTs) and camel milk having economic value and not presently covered in the

production data, (v) duck eggs (in 15 States/UTs), and (vi) meat production from unregistered

slaughtering in the States where the same is presently not covered in the production estimates.

Further, capital expenditures incurred on (i) seven new tree crops during the gestation period,and (ii) installation of wind energy systems, are included in the estimates of output of

construction sector, as well as in the capital formation. A new category of valuables,

covering the expenditures made on acquisition of valuables namely gold, jewellery, etc. has

been included in the gross capital formation, but as a separate category outside the Gross

Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) and Change in Stocks, in line with the recommendations of

1993 SNA.

In addition to the above, economic activities like (i) other private communication,

(ii) renting of machinery and other equipment without operator, (iii) computer related activities

in unorganized segment, (iv) coaching centers, (v) social work with accommodation, and

(vi) recreation and cultural and supporting activities, have been taken into account as per the

latest available data from the NSS 55th

and NSS 57th

Rounds. These activities were notadequately captured in the earlier series, but were explicitly defined in the National Industrial

Classification, 1998, according to which the NSSO collected the data in these Rounds.

Improvements in the Procedures of Compilation

The important procedural changes made in the new series are (i) use of the production data

provided by the National Horticulture Board (NHB) for all horticultural crops (with the

exception of those covered under principal crops) and the price data provided by the State

Directorates of Economics and Statistics (State DESs) for all crops; (ii) introduction of a new

basic material, fixtures and fittings in the construction sector in addition to the existing 4

basic materials for estimating the value of output of construction sector; (iii) netting the

retained reserves and dividends paid from the property income of mutual funds for thepurpose of estimating the output of banking sector; (iv) aligning the estimates of capital

formation by industry of use with those of assets/institutions; (v) adjusting for reinvested

earnings in India of foreign companies in the estimates of saving of private corporate sector

and the consequential changes in the external transactions account; (vi) including in the private

corporate sectors GFCF, the domestic consumption of software (net of public sector

purchases) and the expenditures incurred on construction of assets by the newly set up

companies before they commence production; and (vii) treating the operating losses of

departmental commercial undertakings as imputed subsidies, in line with the practice currently

followed for irrigation departments.


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Implementation of Rrecommendations of 1993 SNA

While undertaking the exercise for the new base year, efforts were also made to implement the

recommendations of the 1993 System of National Accounts (1993 SNA) to the extent data are

available. Some of the recommendations of the 1993 SNA which presently form part of the

new series are:

q valuation of non-market agricultural crops on the basis of prices of similar products

made by market producers and their inclusion in the production boundary;

q inclusion of own-account production of housing services by owner-occupiers and of

domestic and personal services produced by employing paid domestic staff;

q inclusion of premium supplements in respect of life and non-life insurance output

estimates;

q inclusion of reinvested earnings of foreign direct investors in the rest of the world

account. This treatment affects gross national product, saving and capital formation;

q imputed value of own-account labour treated as mixed income of self-employed;

q expenditures on mineral exploration treated as capital expenditure;

q allocation of financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) to the

users of these services, as intermediate consumption to industries and as final

consumption to final users;

q inclusion of expenditures on valuables, which are held as stores of value, and are

treated as Gross Capital Formation;

q treatment of expenditures on software as Gross capital formation;

q inclusion of natural growth of livestock as Gross capital formationq inclusion of expenditures made on few tree crops during the gestation period as Gross

capital formation;

q addition of capital expenditure incurred on installing the wind energy systems in the

Gross Fixed Capital Formation;

q estimation of consumption of fixed capital of all fixed assets including government

buildings, roads, dams etc. by Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM); and

q adopting the practice of changing base year every 5 years.

Consultation with Expert Bodies

The new series involves a number of revisions arising out of conceptual and methodological

improvements as well as use of latest available data. The comprehensive revisions in the newseries are also the results of a number of studies initiated by the CSO in the recent past and also

the outcomes of the two Sub-Committees of the Advisory Committee on National Accounts

Statistics, namely, the Working Group on Workforce Estimation under the Chairpersonship of

Smt. Grace Mazumdar, and the Sub-Committee to suggest suitable sources of data for area,

production and prices for estimating value of output of horticulture crops for the new series

under the chairmanship of Shri Pratap Narain.

Some of the proposals leading to the changes employed in the new series were discussed

in the Conference and Seminar of the Indian Association for Research in National Income and

Wealth (IARNIW) held at Ooty, Tamil Nadu in November, 2004 and at Goa, in December,


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2005, respectively. The changes effected in the new series in terms of methodology, use ofalternative data sources and the consequential changes in the estimates were also deliberated

upon in detail in four meetings of the Advisory Committee on National Accounts Chaired by

Prof. S.D. Tendulkar and with eminent economists/statisticians and representatives of

Ministry of Agriculture, Finance, Planning Commission, Reserve Bank of India, State

Governments as members, held on May, 2004, December, 2004, August, 2005 and January,

2006.

IX. Advance Estimates of National Income and Expenditure

Keeping in view the requirements of the government, particularly for the annual budget

preparation of the Government of India, CSO introduced the advance estimates of national

income in 1993, beginning with the estimates for the year 1992-93. Subsequently on May2007, CSO also introduced the Advance estimates of GDP expenditures, thus reducing the

time-lag considerably. These estimates are now released on 7th February or the next working

day, of each year, based on information available for about 8 months of the year on key

economic indicators. The Advance Estimates are revised on 31st May of every year and are

termed as the Revised Estimates. The approach for compiling the advance estimates is broadly

based on the benchmark-indicator method. In this method, for each of the industry-groups,

namely, agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, manufacturing, electricity, gas and water

supply, trade, hotels and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, banking and

insurance, real estate, ownership of dwellings and business services, public administration, a

key indicator or a set of key indicators for which data in volume or quantity terms is available

during the year, are used to extrapolate the value of output/value added estimates of the

previous year. For example, in the case of agriculture sector, the set of key indicators are the

advance estimates of agriculture production (at individual crop level) and in the case of

manufacturing sector, the key indicators are the index of industrial production (at 2-digit

industry group level). The benchmark estimates are the previous years Annual Estimates. For

the GDP Expenditure aggregates, the indicators used are (i) same sources as used for

production GDP estimates for final consumption expenditure, (ii) IIP use based classification

for capital goods and imports of capital goods, and (iii) the balance of payment statistics and

foreign trade statistics, for net exports.

X. Quarterly Estimates of GDP and Expenditures

Following Indias subscription to the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) of the

International Monetary Fund (IMF), the CSO introduced the quarterly estimates of GDP

starting with the Quarter Jan-Mar 1999, both at constant (1993-94) and current prices. The

quarterly GDP estimates are based on a methodology, which takes into account the quarterly

performance of various industries of the Indian economy. With reference to agriculture, the

methodology is based on apportioning the season-wise crop production into various quarters

on the basis of harvest stage approach, utilising the Indian Crop Calendar, 1998. For other

industries, the estimates are based on the performance of leading indicators of each industry of

the economy, like the production of marine and inland fish, production of coal and crude

petroleum, Index of Industrial Production, production of cement and steel, performance of

railways, production of commercial vehicles, performance of civil aviation and cargo handled


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at major ports, postal and telecommunication revenue, aggregate bank deposits, bank credits,life and non-life insurance and government expenditure.

The CSO has also introduced from May 2007 the quarterly estimates of Expenditure

components of the GDP in current and constant (1999-2000) prices, namely the private final

consumption expenditure, government final consumption expenditure, gross fixed capital

formation, change in stocks, valuables, and net exports.

The quarterly GDP estimates are released on the last working day, two months after the

reference quarter.

XI. Flow of Fund Accounts

For monitoring the economic development and flows of resources across the institutionalsectors, Flow of Fund Accounts are necessary. The Ministry of Finance felt the need for such

information as early as in the late fifties and work was initiated in 1957, jointly by the CSO and

the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Attempts were made to construct accounts for the

government by the CSO and for the banking and corporate sectors by the RBI. In 1959, Prof.

H.W. Arndt of the Australian National University visited India to examine the feasibility of

construction of such comprehensive accounts for the country. After detailed discussions, he

prepared a memorandum on the subject entitled Financial Flows of Indian Economy, 1951-52

to 1957-58. He divided the economy into four broad sectors namely, Government, Banks,

Rest of the World and the Residual. The main field of his investigation was to show how and

in what form the domestic savings become available to government for financing its

expenditure and hence he concentrated on financial flows confined to lending and borrowing.

Subsequently, a Working Group was set up by the CSO in 1959 to prepare a Report on theFlow of Fund Accounts. The CSO together with the Ministry of Finance and the RBI prepared

the estimates for the Working Group. The Report of the Working Group was released in 1963

and it furnished a flow of fund account for the country in 1957-58 that embraced both

financial and non-financial flows in a consolidated as well as by major institutional sectors

namely, households, banks, government and rest of the world. The government sector was

further sub-divided into general government and government enterprises. The RBI has been

bringing out its studies on financial flow of funds, the last one being for the period 1951-52 to

1995-96 brought out in August, 2000.

XII. Saving and Investment

In India, the estimates of saving were attempted in the past by different institutions. The mostimportant among them were, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Planning Commission, National

Council of Applied Economic Research (NEACR) and Central Statistical Organisation. But the

widely accepted estimates of saving are those prepared by the RBI and the CSO. The different

sets of estimates of saving and investment for a common year prepared by the RBI and CSO

had often caused confusion in the minds of the planners and the public. In view of this, the

Department of Statistics appointed a Working Group on Saving under the chairmanship of

Prof. K. N. Raj in May 1981 to (i) undertake a critical review of the available estimates of

saving and investment in the economy (ii) their interpretational significance and

(iii) recommend improvements in the methods and procedures of estimation. The Working

Group submitted its Report in February 1982.


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In pursuance of the recommendation of the Working Group, a series of meetings wereheld between the officials of the RBI and the CSO to reconcile the differences in the estimates.

Finally both organizations agreed on a uniform methodology and database. It was also decided

that each agency would be responsible for the compilation of estimates of specified sectors

and supply the data to the other agency. Accordingly, the CSO, now prepares the estimates of

public sector (both saving and capital formation) and household saving in the form of physical

assets, life funds, provident and pension funds, while the responsibility of estimating the

saving and investment of the private corporate sector and that of the household sectors

saving in other instruments of financial saving is entrusted to the RBI. This arrangement has

gone a long way in clearing the doubts, which earlier used to be created in the minds of the

users due to two different sets of estimates. Now the estimates of saving released by the CSO

and RBI are the same.

Subsequently, the Department of Statistics set up an Expert Group on Saving and Capital

formation under the Chairmanship of Professor V.M. Dandekar on April 1995 to review the

existing methodology and recommend improvements in the methods and procedures of

estimation of saving and capital formation. After the demise of Prof. Dandekar, the Expert

Group was reconstituted on September1995 with the same set of terms of reference and with

Professor Raja J. Chelliah as Chairman. The Committee submitted its Report on December

1996.

Although the Committee did not recommend any major changes in the compilation

procedures, its recommendations were more directed towards improving the quality of

existing estimates. These recommendations, included, compilation of flow of funds accounts,

updations of rates and ratios, regular review of life of fixed assets, improving the estimates oflocal bodies, covering top 1500 companies on census basis, for the purpose of estimating

capital formation in the private corporate sector, examining the feasibility of conducting

income expenditure surveys on a periodic basis, and launching of regular enterprise surveys

by the NSSO for collecting investment data for the household sector.

XIII. State Domestic Product

The work on income estimation for the different States in India began as early as in 1948-49 in

the erstwhile State of Bombay and in the States of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The

first set of detailed estimates of State Income were first published in January 1950 by the

erstwhile state of Bombay for the year 1948-49 and subsequently in 1951 and 1952 for the

years 1949-50 and 1950-51. Uttar Pradesh on the other hand, was the first State to prepareestimates with rural-urban distribution in 1953 for the year 1947-48 to 1950-51. Later other

States like Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal also initiated work on the subject. The

position was reviewed by the Fifth Joint Conference of Central and State Statisticians in 1956

and it was recommended that the States should prepare estimates of State Income broadly on

the lines followed by the National Income Committee. Simultaneously, with a view to

streamlining the work and ensuring adoption of uniform concepts and definitions to the extent

possible as well as methodologies by the States in the preparation of estimates of State

Domestic Product from the various sectors, the Central Statistical Organisation, on the

recommendation of the Preliminary Conference on Research in national Income held in

January, 1957, constituted a Working Group on State Income consisting of experts engaged in


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State Income estimation from some of the major States, CSO and other organizations. Themain task assigned to them was to review the work done by the State Directorates of

Economics and Statistics (DESs) with a view to formulating standard concepts and definitions

and recommend standard methodologies. The Group was also asked to specify the major data

gaps and necessary ways and means to bridge them.

All the States and Union Territories (except Dadra and Nagar Havel, Daman and Diu and

Lakshadweep) now compile State Income estimates at current and constant prices. All the

states compiling SDP estimates follow by and large the concepts, procedures and databases as

well as base years for constant prices, same as those adopted at the national level. However,

due to differences in the imputations done at all India level and at state level (for example, the

value added per worker), and multiplicity of data supplying agencies in the state (for example

agriculture data), the SDP estimates do not add up to the GDP estimates. However, thedifference between the two is about 5 per cent. The CSO undertakes compilation of

comparable estimates of State Domestic Product each year for the use of the Planning

Commission and the Finance Commissions.

One area, where the availability of data for preparation of National Accounts aggregates all

along been highly unsatisfactory is the statistics of local bodies and non-departmental

undertakings (NDCUs) of the state governments. In pursuance to the recommendation of the

fourth Conference of Central and State Statistical Organisations, a Working Group was set up

in March 1980 with representation from RBI, Department of Company Affairs, Planning

Commission, DESs, Department of Agriculture and Co-operation and CSO to (i) examine the

data requirements of all concerned departments and draw up formats for collection of relevant

statistics from local bodies and non-departmental undertakings of state governments and(ii) formulate the approach to be adopted and recommend an action plan indicating changes, if

any, required in the infrastructure. The group in its report submitted in November 1981

recommended that (i) in all the states, where arrangement for consolidation of statistics from

the annual statements of receipt and expenditure exist, the scope of the work should be

extended so as to cover all items of the statements in the aggregation (ii) where the

consolidation work is not being done presently, it should be taken up on a priority basis

(iii) DESs should be responsible for the work of collection and consolidation of the statistics in

respect of the urban and rural local bodies established under state statutes and (iv) DESs

should also collect and process the financial statistics pertaining to the non-departmental

undertakings of state governments preferably following the methodology adopted by the RBI

for its studies on corporate finances. The position with regard to the accounts of local bodies

and NDCUs is that NDCU accounts are compiled separately and included in the NAS, whileestimates of local bodies are included in the overall accounts of administrative departments.

XIV. Regional Accounts

A Committee on Regional Accounts, under the Chairmanship of Prof. M. Mukherjee, was

appointed in 1972 which worked during 1972-76. Besides recommending standard

methodologies, it also recommended a set of eighteen standard tables to be prepared by all

states. The tables covered, besides domestic product, all the important macro-economic

aggregates like fixed capital formation, current consumption expenditure, transactions of

public sector and indicators of regional development. In its Final Report the committee also


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recommended the appropriate frame-work of regional accounts. The State DESs follow therecommendations of the Committee in their endeavor to improve the regional accounts

statistics.

XV. Indian Participation in International Comparison

Inter-country comparison of level of economic growth is generally done in terms of per capita

income in US dollar using official exchange rates. This, however, is not a satisfactory method

as the exchange rate is not always a valid indicator for measuring the purchasing power of

currencies. The UN Statistical Office, in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania,

USA undertook a project International Comparison Project (now Programme)-ICP with the

primary objective of evolving a suitable methodology for establishing a system of comparisons

of real product and Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) of different countries.

In Phase I of ICP six countries participated in 1967 and 10 countries in 1970. In Phase II

of the project 10 countries participated in 1970 and 16 in 1973. In Phase I and II both binary

and multilateral comparisons were carried out. In Phase III the comparison on similar lines

were made for the year 1975 in which 34 countries participated. The countries were classified

into regional groups and comparison was also made with a base country within the region.

India was chosen as base country for ESCAP comparison. From Phase IV, in which 60

countries participated for the reference year 1980, regional comparisons were carried out. For

Phase V wherein 64 countries participated, core country concept was introduced for linking

the results of regional comparisons to obtain the results of world comparison. India was one

of the core countries in Phase V in the ESCAP region. The results of all the five phases have

been published. Currently Phase VI of the ICP is on in which core commodity approach hasbeen proposed in place of core country approach of Phase V, for linking the regional results.

This project is of particular interest to the developing countries wherein a large number of

transactions take place in non-monetary terms which are not always evaluated and taken

account of in national income estimation as contrasted to similar transactions in the developed

countries. India did not participate in Phase VI. In VIIth Phase, 155 countries are participating.

The Purchasing Power Parity Preliminary Report of the 2005 International Comparison

Programme in Asia and the Pacific has just been (July 2007) brought out by the Asian

Development Bank.

XVI. Input-Output Transactions Tables

An input-output transactions table (IOTT) which describes the productive process of thecomplete economic system in a unified way, is an important analytical tool for analysing the

structure of production in the economy. IOTT is part of the integrated system of national

accounting. The Statistical Office, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, United

Nations, has brought out a Technical Manual (Series F No.40, Rev.I) indicating details about

construction of IOTT and the various problems of input-output analysis.

The construction of IOTT was initiated in India in the early fifties. The first inter-industry

table for India was prepared by M. Mukherjee for 1949-50 in 1953 which was subsequently

published in Sankhya in 1954. This table had only 4 sectors and was arrived at by allocating by

industries the costs of various industrial sectors using information contained in the First


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Report of the National Income Committee and then consolidating by the four broad sectors.Uma Datta (1954) prepared a 15 X 15 table for 1949-50. The 15 sector classification used in

this table was the same as used in the national income estimation. This table helped in locating

some inconsistencies in the national income estimates leading to their rectification at that time.

A. K. Biswa (1954) prepared a mimeographed paper Input-output relation among selected

Indian industries for the MIT Centre of International Studies, India Project. The Indian

Institute of Public Opinion also brought out an IOTT with 19 sectors in 1954 for the year

1952-53. Wilfred Malenbaum (1955) included a small IOTT in his paper Indian domestic

product, 1951-52 1953-54. R. M. Goodwin and T. P. Chowdhury were associated with 12

X 12 table for 1950-51 released by ISI in the form of a mimeographed paper in 1955. A. K.

Chakravarti prepared 36 sector classification IOTT for the year 1953-54 and 1955-56. These

tables alongwith detailed write up was later published by the Statistical Publishing Society in

the form of a book in 1968. By this time the work on inter-industry studies was put on a

systematic basis in the Planning Division of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) under the

guidance of T. P. Chowdhury and R. M. Goodwin and a standard 36 sector classification was

adopted. A 36 X 36 IOTT was first prepared in mimeographed form which was later published

in the Papers on National Income and Allied Topics (PNIAT), Vl.I, 1960. Next, a table for

1953-54 with the same classification was prepared which was published in an ECAFE paper,

Formulating Industrial Development Programme, Development Techniques Series No.27 in

1961. The next 36 X 36 table prepared in ISI in 1961 related to year 1955-56 following a

uniform pattern of classification with the earlier tables. This table was enlarged to a 50 X50

table subsequently. All these tables prepared by ISI were at producers price. D. V. Ramana

prepared tables for the year 1948-49 to 1958-59 with 50 sector classification using mainly the

ISI tables and included them in his mimeographed study entitled National Accounts andInput-Output Accounts of India at Department of Applied Economics, University of

Cambridge.

The work of inter-industry analysis was shifted from ISI Calcutta to ISI Planning Unit,

Delhi. The first IOTT at Delhi Unit was prepared by Ashok Rudra and A. S. Manne for the year

1960-61. This table was specifically constructed for the purpose of analysing the structure of

Indian economy in 1970-71. Besides the tables prepared by ISI, a 29 X 29 table was prepared

by the Economic Division of the Planning Commission which was published in Economic

Analysis in Input-Output Framework Vol.-I in 1967. At ISI and IOTT with 77 sectors for the

year 1964-65 was prepared by M. R. Saluja in which input flows were valuated at factor cost

of 1960-61. Similar to the table of Rudra and Manne, this table also covered only a part of the

entire economy. At Gokhale Institute of Economics & Politics an IOTT with 32 sectors for theyear 1963 was prepared by P. N. Mathur, et al. This table was at purchasers price. The

Perspective Planning Division of Planning Commission prepared an IOTT with 66 sectors at

producers price for the year 1965. This table was not published but later updated to 1973-74

at 1971-72 producers prices and was utilized for preparing the Approach Paper for the Fifth

Five Year Plan (1974-79).

Most of the tables mentioned above were not comparable either because they did not

cover the whole economy and were inconsistent with the national Accounts Statistics or they

varied in terms of sector classification adopted and system of valuation adopted were

different. The CSO jointly with the Planning Commission undertook the task of preparing an


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IOTT of the Indian economy consistent with the NAS in 1972. An IOTT at factor cost for theyear 1968-69 was prepared with 225 sector classification following the conceptual

framework prescribed in the United Nations Revised System of National Accounts. An

aggregated version of this table with 60 sector classification was published in NAS, 1978.

Thereafter, CSO undertook the preparation of IOTT for the year 1973-74 on its own. The

detailed 1973-74 IOTT had 115 sectors and it was aggregated in to 60 sector table to enable an

overall summary review of the transactions. This table was published in1981.

The CSO decided to prepare IOTTs for the Indian Economy every 5 years following the

same approach so that information system may be developed for study of input structures, final

demand pattern etc. in due course of time. As per this programme further IOTTs have been

prepared by CSO for the years 1978-79, 1983-84, 1989-90, 1993-94, 1998-99 and 2003- 04.

At the regional/state level the first available IOTT relates to West Bengal as a whole and

also for Calcutta Metropolitan area for the year 1958 prepared by Dhar (1965). This table was

at producers price and had 18 sectors. Rangnekar (1965) constructed an IOTT for Punjab

for the year 1957 which had the entries at producers price and consisted of 17 sectors. In the

following two decades a large number of IOTTs have been constructed by the different

scholars for different states, namely, for Gujarat relating to the year 1964-65 at producers

price having 24 sectors by Alagh and Kashyap (1971), Maharashtra for the year 1963 at

purchasers prices having 32 sectors by Koti and Santanam (1970), Haryana for the year

1969-70 at producers prices with 32 sectors by Bhalla (1974), Bihar for the year 1969-70

have 38 sectors at producers prices by Ghosh (1974), Punjab for the year 1969-70 at

producers prices having 36 sectors by Bhalla (1975), Rajasthan for the year 1970-71 at

producers prices having 49 sectors by Mehta (1977), Madhya Pradesh for the year 1965 atproducers prices having 93 sectors by Prakash and Patanker (1978), Assam for the year 1969

at producers prices having 22 sectors by Barua (1977), Karnataka for the year 1977-78 at

producers prices having 66 sectors by Panchmukhi (1980) and U. P. for the year 1970-71 at

producers prices having 93 sectors by State Planning Institute U. P. Venkatramaiah et al

(1979) constructed 21 regional IOTTs one each for 15 States and 6 Union Territories.

XVII. Role of Research Association/Societies in the Development of NAS

Professional research associations/societies have also significantly contributed towards the

quest of CSO for improvement and enlargement of NAS, which is a continuous process.

Special mention may be made of the Indian Association for Research in National Income and

Wealth (IARNIW) and the Indian Econometric Society. IARNIW which is a registered non-profit institution was formed mainly with a view to (a) encourage, stimulate and undertake

research in national income, wealth and allied fields, (b) hold seminars, conferences etc. on the

problems of national income, wealth and allied topics, (c) to undertake publication of research

studies conducted by the Association as also of the papers presented at its Conferences,

Seminars etc. It has provided forum on several occasions, for discussion on the estimates

prepared by NAD and methods at a penultimate research stage.

Several gaps, deficiencies in the data and delay in the publication of official statistics

generally places serious limitation on optimal planning in the country. The Indian Econometric

Society, in a bid to improve upon the existing data base, organized a seminar in 1972 under the


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leadership of Prof. C.R. Rao, which gave constructive suggestions for the improving the database of Indian economy. Two sessions in this seminar were exclusively devoted to national

income statistics and related aggregates in which background papers on National Income

Statistics by Prof. M. Mukherjee and Savings, Investment and Consumption by Prof.

Ashok Rudra were discussed. Biennial Conferences of the Central and State Statistical

Organisations have also played useful role in providing forums for discussion of the

methodology etc. relating to the improvement of the national income estimates.

XVIII. International Standards on System of National Accounts

Official interest in the comparability of economic statistics dates back at least to 1928. In that

year the League of Nations held an International Conference Relating to Economic Statistics to

encourage the compilation of such statistics and the adoption of uniform presentationmethods. The Final Act of the Conference stated that international comparability should be a

goal, especially among countries with sophisticated statistical systems. It urged countries to

consider extending the scope of official statistics to facilitate compilation of national income

estimates at regular intervals.

In 1939, the League of Nations first published national income estimates, for all or part of

the period 1929 to 1938 for 26 countries, with half of them being official estimates and others

from academic or private studies. After the Second World War, a need was felt for comparable

measures of national income as a basis for apportioning the expenses of international

organizations. To help address this need, the Sub-committee on National Income Statistics of

the League of Nations Committee of Statistical Experts was formed. The Sub-Committee met

in December 1945, working from a memorandum prepared by Richard Stone. The origins ofSNA trace back to the Sub-committees report published in 1947, which recommended a set

of nine tables to present national income statistics.

By 1950, the United Nations Statistics Office was able to assemble estimates from

country sources, for National Income Statistics, 1938-1948, from 41 countries. An Expert

Group appointed by the UN met in 1952 to formulate a standard system. The result was the

1953 report A System of National Accounts and Supporting Tables. This report presented a

set of 6 standard accounts. Compared to the 1947 report, the 1953 accounts were further

elaborated with respect to capital transactions. It also took the needs of developing countries

into consideration.

The System of National Accounts recommended by the United Nations in 1953 for general

use, popularly known as UNSNA, 1953 has influenced the development of national incomestatistics all over the world. After 2 other editions of 1953 SNA in 1960 and 1964, the UN

convened an Expert Group meeting, which met for two weeks in 1964 basing its discussion

on a draft paper prepared by Richard Stone. The outcome was the 1968 SNA. This

recommended a set of 20 accounts, broken into three classes, consolidated accounts of the

nation, production, consumption expenditure and capital finance accounts and income and

outlay account and capital finance accounts. Now the UNSNA has again been revised in 1993

to make it more elaborate, comprehensive and harmonized with other systems such as Balance

of Payments Statistics, Government Finance Statistics etc. Accounts have also been

partitioned into more detailed sub-accounts.


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The heads of NAD, CSO, worked as members of the Expert Groups of the UN toprepare the UN guidelines since the beginning. Prof. M. Mukherjee was a member of the

Expert Group which prepared the UNSNA and supporting tables in 1953. Dr. S.G. Tiwari

Scope of the compilation of 1993 SNA tables and accounts

SNA segments Annual Quarterly

accounts accounts

Numbers of related Name of SNA segment

tables of UN

questionnaire on

SNA

Value added, GDP and Employment

2.1 Value added and GDP in current prices by industry Min reqt Recomm2.2 Value added and GDP in constant prices by industry Min reqt Recomm

1.1 Expenditures of the GDP in current prices Min reqt Recomm

1.2 Expenditures of the GDP in constant prices Min reqt Recomm

2.3 Value added components by industry, current prices Min reqt Desirable

Employment by industry Min reqt Recomm

Integrated accounts and tables, including integrated satellite accounts1.3/4.1 Accounts for the total economy Min reqt Recomm

Supply and use table Recomm Desirable

5.1 Cross-classification of output/value added by

industries and sectors Recomm

Integrated economic accounts *

Tourism accounts * Environmental accounts *

Social Accounting Matrices

Other socioeconomic accounts * Purpose classification of expenditures

3.1 General government final consumption (and other)

expenditure by purpose in current prices Recomm General government final consumption expenditure

by purpose at constant prices *

3.2 Individual consumption (and other) expenditures by

purpose in current prices Recomm

Individual consumption expenditures by purpose at

constant prices * Purpose classification of intermediate and final

consumption across all sectors *

Sector accounts (until net lending)

4.2 Rest of the world accounts (until net lending) Min reqt Recomm

4.3 Non-financial corporations sector accounts

(until net lending) * 4.4 Financial corporations accounts (until net lending) Recomm

4.5 General government sector accounts (until net lending) Recomm

4.6 Household sector accounts (until net lending) *

4.7 Non-profit institutions serving households sector

accounts (until net lending) *

Financial and capital stock accounts and tables4.1-4.7 Financial accounts for all sectors *

Balance sheets, revaluation and volume changes in

asset accounts *

Asset accounts for financial assets *

Asset accounts for produced assets *

Asset accounts for non-produced assets *


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was a member of the team which prepared 1968 SNA, Mrs. Uma Datta Roy Choudhury andMr. Jagdish Kumar were Expert Group members of 1993 SNA. The 1993 SNA was brought

out jointly by the 5 international organizations, United Nations, World Bank, International

Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the

European Union. The 1993 SNA is being updated and a revised version of this is expected to

be released in 2008.

XIX. Current NAS compilations and Advance Release Calendar

As at present, the compilations on national accounts include the following.

x GDP and NDP at factor cost by economic activity (annual and quarterly)

x

GDP by expenditure aggregates (annual and quarterly)q Private final consumption expenditure (PFCE)

q Government final consumption expenditure (GFCE)

q Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF)

q Change in stocks

q Net exports (Exports minus imports)

x GDP by income method (only at current prices)

q Compensation of employees

q Operating surplus (organized sector)

q

Mixed income (unorganized sector)q Consumption of fixed capital

x Saving and capital formation by institutions

q Household

q Private corporate sector

q Household sector

x Capital formation by assets

q Construction

q Machinery and equipment

q

Softwareq Valuables

x Capital formation by industries

x Public sector transactions

x Sources and Methods

x State-wise and item-wise value of output of agricultural crops and livestock products

x State-wise and item-wise value of output of minerals

x Input-output transactions table

x Back series estimates of NAS


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The metadata pages on national accounts are available at the IMFs Dissemination

Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB), which is the website for SDDS, http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/sddscountrycategorylist/?strcode=IND. The CSOs national accounts were

also assessed by the IMF under its programme, Report on Observance of Standards and

Codes (ROSC) in 2002. The Report was prepared after examining the compilation practices of

NAS against a Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF).

XX. Satellite Accounts

In order to analyze a specific field in depth using the SNA framework, the SNA

recommends compilation of satellite accounts. These accounts concentrate on one field to

give a full picture of it, in a systematic way. These satellite accounts allow flexibility with

reference to adoption of concepts, procedures and classifications, without disturbing the core

framework of national accounts. For example, the tourism satellite accounts adopt an industrialclassification which cuts across all the industrial sectors as per UNs International Standards

Industrial Classification (ISIC). Similarly, for household satellite accounts, the concept of

production boundary can be extended to capture some non-market voluntary services.

The responsibility for compiling the satellite accounts lies with the respective agencies that

are responsible for collecting and disseminating statistics on the related subjects. The National

Accounts Division provides any technical expertise that is required by the nodal agencies for

compiling the satellite accounts.

Presently, the Ministry of Tourism compiled Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA), with the

help of NCAER for the year 2002-03. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare compiled the

The CSO maintains an Advance Release Calendar for the releases on national accounts.

Title of Release Date of release

QUARTERLY ESTIMATES OF GDP

1. First quarter (Q1) GDP estimates Last working day of August (2 months time lag)

2. Second quarter (Q2) GDP estimates Last working day of November (2 months time lag)

3. Second quarter (Q3) GDP estimates Last working day of February (2 months time lag)

4. Second quarter (Q4) GDP estimates Last working day of May (2 months time lag)

ANNUAL NATIONAL ACCOUNTS STATISTICS

5. Advance Estimates of national income and 7th or first working day after 7 th of February

expenditure (2 months before the close of the year)

6. Revised Advance Estimates of national income Last working day of May (2 months time lag)

and expenditure

7. Quick Estimates of National Income, Consumption Last working day of January (10 months time lag)

Expenditure, Saving and Capital Formation

PUBLICATIONS

1. National Accounts Statistics (annual) Last working day of June

2. Input-Output Transactions Table (5-yearly) Last working day of September

(time lag 3-1/2 years)

3. Brochure on New Series of national accounts Last working day of February

statistics (after revision of base year) (one month after base year revision)

4. Sources and Methods (after revision of base year) Last working day of March

(fourteen months after base year revision)

5. Back series of national accounts statistics Last working day of June

(after revision of base year) (Seventeen months after base year revision)


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National Health Accounts, India for 2001-02. Both these institutions received considerabletechnical help from the NAD of the CSO. Also, the Institute of Social and Economic Change

(ISEC) have recently compiled National Transfer Accounts using the data available from the

national accounts.

The NAD is also presently working on compiling the satellite accounts for non-profit

institutions in India (NPI) in the framework recommended by the United Nations, Handbook

on Non-Profit Institutions in the System of National Accounts. The Social Statistics Division

of the CSO is compiling the Environmental Accounts.

XXI. Advisory Committees on Indian National Accounts

As noted in Section 2, a key recommendation of the National Income Committee and also

that of Prof. Simon Kuznets who reviewed comprehensively the national income estimates

and related aggregates of India and presented his report in January, 1957 was to set up of an

Advisory Committee comprising of established authorities for guiding the national income

compilation. Subsequently the compilation of national accounts statistics in India is

overseen by an Advisory Committee consisting of acknowledged experts.

First Advisory Committee 1958

The first Advisory Committee on National Income was set up in February, 1958. The

composition of this Committee was; Prof. P. C. Mahalanobis, Chairman, and five members,

namely, Prof. V. K. R. V. Rao, Prof. D. R. Gadgil, Dr. I.G. Patel, Prof. M. Mukherjee and Joint

Director Incharge of National Income Unit in the CSO as Member Secretary. The functions of

this Advisory Committee were: (a) to advise on preparation of national income and related

estimates; (b) to suggest measures for improvement of the quality of data and for the

collection of further essential statistics; and (c) to recommend ways and means for promotion

and coordination of research in national income.

Advisory Committee 1959

This Committee was reconstituted in March, 1959 in which Shri Anjaaria of Department of

Economic Affairs replaced Dr. I. G. Patel.


In 1961, the Advisory Committee was again reconstituted with the addition of an item toinitiate programme of advanced studies and research in national income to the terms of

reference of the earlier Committee.


The Committee was reconstituted in 1967, forming two independent Advisory Committees,

the first to advise the Government on statistical aspects of collection of data for national

income under the chairmanship of Prof. C. R. Rao, and the second for giving advice on the

compilation and presentation of data for the purpose of economic analysis and policy

decisions and on the promotion of research and advanced studies in national income and


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allied subjects under the chairmanship of Dr. S.R. Sen. The Committee on Collection ofData for National Income was reconstituted in 1970 under the chairmanship of Prof. V.M.

Dandekar with the members comprising Director (CSO), representatives from Indian

Statistical Institute(ISI), Planning Commission, RBI, NSSO, Directors of the Directorates

of Economics & Statistics, Maharashtra and West Bengal. The other Advisory Committee

on compilation and Analysis of National Accounts was reconstituted under the

chairmanship of Prof. M. Mukherjee and included Director (CSO), representatives of

RBI, ISI, Planning Commission and Ministry of Industrial Development and Ministry of

Finance as members.

Two more committees/working groups were set up for dealing with International

Comparison Project and Improvement of Data Base for State income and related aggregates.


On the recommendation of National Advisory Board on Statistics (NABS), it was decided in

1986 that the above mentioned committees might be merged into a single Advisory Committee

on National Accounts. Accordingly, the Advisory Committee was reconstituted under the

chairmanship of Prof. V.M. Dandekar with Prof. M. Mukherjee, Dr. A.K. Ghosh, Prof. S.D.

Tendulkar and representatives of RBI, ISI, Planning Commission, Ministry of Finance,

Ministry of Agriculture, CEO (NSSO) and 3 State Directors of Economics and Statistics with

a provision of rotation every 3 years as members.


The Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics was reconstituted in May, 1992

under the chairmanship of Prof. C.H. Hanumantha Rao with Prof. M. Mukherjee, Shri V.V.

Divatia, Dr. S.G. Tiwari, Mrs. Uma Datta Roy Choudhury, Prof. Anita Banerjee and

representatives of RBI, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, Planning Commission,

Chief Executive Officer of NSSO and four state Directors of Economics and Statistics as

members. The terms of reference of the reconstituted Committee were (i) to advise the

Government for improving the coverage of national accounts statistics to include sectors like

large scale, small scale and cottage industries in private and public sectors, (ii) to address the

question of estimation of national income by rural and urban sectors on regular basis, (iii) to

examine the issues in the estimation of factor shares by industry in rural and urban sectors,

(iv) to provide guidelines on the estimation of consumption of fixed capital at the State level,

(v) to provide guidelines on technical matters relating to phase VI of the InternationalComparison Project (ICP) for evolving a suitable methodology for establishing a system of

comparisons of real product and Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) of currencies and suggest

possible improvements on the methods adopted by United Nations Statistical Office (UNSO);

and (vi) to advise on any other mater referred to the Committee by the Department in respect

of National Accounts.


The Advisory Committee was reconstituted in January, 1996 under the chairmanship of Prof.

Y.K. Alagh and the members of the committee included Prof. M. Mukherjee, Dr. S.G. Tiwari,


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Mrs. Uma Datta Roy Choudhury, Prof. S.D. Tendulkar, Shri R.P. Katyal, and officials fromRBI, central and state governments. The Committee was again reconstituted in October 1996

under the chairmanship of Dr. Rakesh Mohan with more or less same composition.


In April 2001, the Advisory Committee on National Accounts was reconstituted under the

chairmanship of Prof. S.D. Tendulkar. Other members of the Committee were Prof. B.B.

Battacharya, Dr. V.S. Chitre, Dr. Amitabh Kundu, Mrs. Uma Datta Roy Choudhruy, Shri R.P.

Katyal, Mrs. Grace Majumdar, DG (CSO), DG&CEO (NSSO), Adviser (PPD), Planning

Commission, Economic Adviser, Department of Economic Affairs, ESA, DES-Ministry of

Agriculture, Dr. R.B. Burman, (ED-RBI), Officer-in-charge (DEAP, RBI), Director (SPl.

Monitoring Cell, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh), Director (DES, Maharashtra), Director(BAE&S, West Bengal), ESA(Govt. of Haryana), Director (DES, Govt. of Meghalaya) and

DDG (NAD).


On the recommendations of the The National Statistical Commission (NSC) in its ninth

meeting held on 26.03.2007, the Government of India reconstituted the Advisory

Committee on National Accounts Statistics in May 2007 under the Chairmanship of Prof K

Sundaram, Delhi School of Economics with Prof. B.B. Bhattacharya, S.L. Shetty, Prof.

Ashima Goyal, Prof. Sanghamitra Das, Shri R.P. Katyal, Shri Pratap Narain, Shri Naresh

Kumar, Director General, Central Statistical Organisation, Director General (NSSO),

Principal Advisor, Perspective Planning Division., Planning Commission, EconomicAdvisor, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Principal Economic and

Statistical Adviser, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Executive Director,

Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai, Officer-in-Charge, Department of Economic Analysis

and Policy, RBI, Officer-in-Charge, Department of Statistical Analysis and Computer

Services, RBI, Director of DES, Andhra Pradesh, Director of DES, Maharashtra ,

Director of DES, Assam as members and Additional Director General (National Accounts

Division) as Member secretary.

The terms of reference of this Committee were: To review the data base and advise

on data collection through sample surveys, type studies etc. for implementing the

recommendations of the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA), to advise on the

methodology for compilation and presentation of National Accounts Statistics for purposes ofeconomic analysis and policy and on promotion of research in the field of National Accounts

Statistics, to advise on undertaking studies for improvement of National Accounts Statistics in

terms of coverage, adoption of new classifications recommended by the UN Statistics

Division to capture impact of recent policies/efforts of the government and development of

sequence of accounts for various institutional sectors;, to provide guidelines on the

presentation of methodology document on National Accounts Statistics; sources and methods

as per new series, to provide guidelines for the development of regional accounts; and to

advise on any other matter referred to the Committee by the National Statistical Commission in

respect of national accounts.


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CSO (2004): Report of the Working Group on Workforce Estimation for Compilation of National AccountsStatistics withBase Year 1999-2000

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Documents

7-Compilation of National Accounts Statistics in India - A Historical Perspective