Even as the central bank has complained about the quality of macro economic data being compiled, the country’s apex statistics body plans to review the Reserve Bank of India’s data collection system. “We are reviewing the data collection by the RBI, particularly in relation to corporate statistics,” said Pronab Sen, chairman, National Statistical Commission. The National Statistical Commission or NSC was set up nearly a decade ago to develop systems for development of national statistics and monitor and evaluate collection of data by government agencies. As part of its monetary policy and forecasting functions, the RBI compiles data on corporate finances such as production, sales and profitability to arrive at estimates on corporate saving and investment rates. It also analyses corporate balance sheets and performance to generate statistics on inflation, pricing, and foreign currency borrowings. However, it uses a sample size of about 5,000 firms. As part of the revamp, the NSC is keen to expand the sample size of firms by tapping into the database of market regulator Sebi as well as the ministry of corporate affairs. A team from the NSC is expected to work with the central bank officials in Mumbai. “The corporate statistics generated by the RBI is very important. Some of it is also used by the ministry of statistics while calculating estimates such as the gross domestic for product so a bigger sample size would make it more reflective of the ground level realities,” said Sen. While the ministry of corporate affairs, which is the nodal agency for all companies has data on over 9 lakh firms, the Securities and Exchange Board of India has access to quarterly results of all listed companies that are filed with the bourses. The issue of enlarging its limited sample of companies for data collection has also been raised by the Reserve Bank of India. “There is a need to expand our sample size and the coverage of financial details. We should also establish links with ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) database to improve our coverage of corporate statistics,” Deepak Mohanty, executive director, RBI had said in September last year.
