Economic census: Parliamentary panel questions ministry over delay in results

The Standing Committee on Finance pointed out that MoSPI’s response on the seventh economic census “falls short in providing a proactive approach” to address the delays.

“Moreover, the response highlights that as of April 30, 2023 only 13 states/UTs have communicated their approval on the 7th Economic Census provisional results indicating lack of progress in obtaining approvals from the State Level Coordination Committees. The response of the government also does not provide clear information on how it plans to implement these recommendations,” the committee’s report said.

The committee has asked the ministry to “accelerate data collection, foster close collaboration with states and ensure timely approval of the provisional results by the state-level coordination committees”, adding that the panel should be apprised about states facing statistical capacity constraints in terms of providing data.

The ministry informed the parliamentary panel that data collection and supervision for the seventh economic census were affected due to several operational challenges including the pandemic. The seventh economic census results are yet to be finalised as approval of provisional results is yet to be obtained from various state-level coordination committees.
This is not the first time that the parliamentary panel has questioned the delay in release of results of the seventh economic census. It had questioned the ministry for the same earlier in March as well.

An economic census provides an updated sampling framework for follow-up enterprise surveys undertaken for detailed analysis of all establishments in the country and covers all establishments including household enterprises, engaged in production or distribution of goods/services (other than the purpose of own consumption) in non-farm agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. For the seventh economic census, MoSPI had partnered with CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a special purpose vehicle under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as the implementing agency.