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Informist, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025

 

--MoSPI: To release Periodic Labour Force Survey data every month from May

--MoSPI: To release IIP data on 28th of subsequent month starting April

--MoSPI: To release Periodic Labour Force Survey data for Apr on May 15

--MoSPI: To release results of private capex survey on Apr 30

 

NEW DELHI – In the latest change to the release of official statistics, the statistics ministry has decided to bring forward the publication of the Index of Industrial Production data by a fortnight to the 28th of the subsequent month. As per the advance release calendar for 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, IIP data in April will be released on the 28th.

 

This is a departure from the current system, where the data is released with a lag of more than 40 days on the 12th of every month. For instance, IIP data for December was released on Feb. 12.

 

As per the current schedule, IIP data for January will be released on Mar. 12. However, it is not clear if IIP data for March will be released in late March or the second week of April. An e-mail sent to the statistics ministry was not immediately answered.

 

According to a person aware of developments, the change in the schedule is to reduce the time lag in the release of data. With the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade having reduced the time lag with which it supplies data to the statistics ministry, the latter is "also trying to do so", the person said on the condition of anonymity.

 

Production data on most of the items in the IIP is collected by the commerce ministry's Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

 

The change in the IIP release date comes after the ministry in November brought forward the publication of the CPI and IIP to 1600 IST from 1730 IST without changing the day of release. Subsequently, the same was done for GDP data.

 

Over the last year, the statistics ministry has been pushing to improve the timeliness and frequency of the results of its surveys and official statistics. As part of this effort, the ministry's advance release calendar also showed it will release its Periodic Labour Force Survey on a monthly basis starting from May, with the bulletin for April set to be released on May 15. So far, the survey has been published on a quarterly basis for urban India and annually for rural. The latest quarterly report, released on Tuesday, said India's urban unemployment rate was unchanged in Oct-Dec at a record low of 6.4%.

 

Informist had reported back in September that the statistics ministry was looking to release labour force survey data every month for both rural and urban areas. As per a senior government official who then spoke on the condition of anonymity, the monthly labour force surveys will be on the basis of a smaller sample size and will, therefore, have a higher standard error – a measure of the accuracy of estimates. However, the official had told Informist that even with a higher standard error, the monthly surveys "will still be much better than other alternatives".

 

The Periodic Labour Force Survey is the only official measure of employment in the country.

 

Finally, the statistics ministry will also publish the results of its survey on private capital expenditure on Apr. 30.  End

 

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

 

Reported by Siddharth Upasani

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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