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Informist, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024

NEW DELHI – The government decided to bring forward the publication of its key economic indicators by 90 minutes after receiving feedback on the same from economists. This week, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said it would now release the quarterly GDP data as well as the monthly CPI and Index of Industrial Production data at 1600 IST. The changes are effective immediately.

Until now, GDP data and the CPI and IIP numbers were made public at 1730 IST on the respective day of their releases. While CPI and IIP data are usually released on the 12th day of every month--with a one-month lag for IIP--GDP data for a quarter is released after two months.

Bringing forward the time of the publication of the data was suggested by economists at an interaction with officials from the statistics ministry in Mumbai in late September. According to an economist who attended the conference on GDP and CPI, the ministry was asked why it released the figures at the end of the day and if they could be announced earlier. In a statement following the interaction with economists, the statistics ministry said it had received several suggestions, including "release time of these indices may be changed to provide sufficient time for analysis by the users on the same day".

Most economists publish their reports and comments on key economic data on the day they are released. Some of these detailed reports are often published very late at night after economists study the numbers.

In two different statements on Tuesday and early Friday, the statistics ministry said the new release times align "with the closing hours of major financial markets in India". This, it said in both the statements, would ensure the dissemination of the data "does not interfere with active trading".

While the equity and spot rupee markets close at 1530 IST, the bond and currency futures markets close at 1700 IST. As such, GDP, CPI, and IIP data will now be released while bonds and currency futures--often the most sensitive to economic data--would still be trading.  End

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Reported by Siddharth Upasani and Shubham Rana

Edited by Ashish Shirke

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