The government of India is considering to reduce the number of annual GDP estimates, sources have confirmed to CNBCTV18. The move is likely to provide more time to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) for its data releases so that adequate data can be captured in a single print, thereby lowering the frequency of GDP estimate revisions.

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While it's not clear nor confirmed if the move will lead to a change in the date of GDP estimate releases, sources observe the changed frequency of the release could lead to some data prints getting published earlier while some could happen later.

On Friday in a CII interaction the Chief Economic Advisor Anantha Nageswaran said, "Some of you may not know the GDP data gets revised six times, the final number is the sixth estimate which comes three years later. The final number for March ending 2023 will come in Jan-Feb 2026."

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Sources mentioned that while a decision is yet to be taken, among the six annual GDP prints for a financial year, the second advance estimate which is released on Feb 28 may be dropped. Similar could be the case for the final and sixth estimate, commonly called the third revised estimate, which comes three years after the first GDP print for a financial year. This would significantly compress the annual revisions in GDP from six to four and government would have the final print in two years instead of three.

Earlier this year MoSPI had shifted the second advance annual estimate date from Jan 31 to Feb 28.

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(Edited by : Jerome Anthony)

First Published:Jun 10, 2023 12:58 PM IST