New series addresses lacunae in older GDP methodology

The government has introduced wide-ranging methodological changes to measure gross domestic product (GDP) and allied numbers by heeding to the criticism over earlier single deflator method, which gave rise to discrepancies between production and expenditure sides of computing the numbers.

- SHIKHA CHATURVEDI

The revision goes beyond the routine base update of revising the base year to 2022-23 from 2011-12.

It incorporates structural improvements in estimation, including the adoption of double deflation in agriculture and manufacturing, expanded coverage of the unincorporated sector through the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE), the use of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data for labour input refinement, greater reliance on goods and services tax (GST) and other administrative databases, and tighter integration of production and expenditure accounts through the Supply Use Tables (SUT) framework.

Officials said these changes aim to better capture structural shifts in the economy, improve the use of deflators, and reduce statistical discrepancies between the two sides of GDP measurement.