(a) whether the Government is planning to change the base year for Gross Domestic Product(GDP) calculations on constant prices to 2017-18;
(b) if so, the rationale behind selecting 2017-18 as the appropriate base year; and
(c) if not, the details of all the base years being considered, including the rationale for each, thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION AND MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)
(a) to (c): As per the United Nations System of National Accounts (UN SNA)-2008, the member countries are required to revise the base year of their macro-economic indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross Value Added (GVA), Index of Industrial Production (IIP), Consumer Price Index (CPI) etc. periodically, to better capture the structural changes in the economy. The exercise of base year revision of National Accounts is guided by the Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics (ACNAS) comprising experts from the Central and State Government, Academia, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other domain specific experts. While selecting a new base year, several activities, including new surveys, are to be planned and carried out to have the latest data for use in the revised base year. The ACNAS had earlier recommended to revise the present base year of National Accounts from 2011-12 to 2017-18 in view of the likely availability of requisite data. The issue of the base year revision was again discussed by ACNAS in its last meeting held on 30 October, 2019 and after considering different choices it was recommended to the Ministry, to consider 2020-21 as the next base year of National Accounts in view of the structural reforms in the economy and likely availability of data through various annual surveys like Consumer Expenditure, Annual Survey on Unincorporated Sector Enterprises, Annual Survey of Service Sector Enterprise, etc.
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