National Statistical Office
The National Statistical Office (NSO) is India's premier government statistical agency, responsible for the compilation and publication of national accounts data including GDP estimates, and for conducting major surveys that underpin economic policymaking.
The NSO was created in May 2019 through the merger of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), both of which functioned under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The merger aimed to streamline data collection, reduce duplication and strengthen India's statistical infrastructure.
The NSO is the sole authority responsible for estimating India's Gross Domestic Product. The GDP methodology used in India follows the United Nations System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008) framework. GDP is estimated using two approaches: the expenditure approach (summing consumption, investment, government expenditure and net exports) and the production approach (summing gross value added across agriculture, industry and services). The NSO releases advance estimates, first revised estimates, second revised estimates and final estimates over successive years as more comprehensive data becomes available.
Base year revisions are periodically undertaken to better reflect the contemporary structure of the economy. India's current GDP base year is 2011-12, and a revision to a more recent base year has been under preparation. Base year revisions typically revise the measured level of GDP and can alter calculated growth rates, sometimes generating controversy when they show higher or lower growth than earlier series.
The NSO conducts the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) for the organised manufacturing sector, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for employment data, the Household Consumer Expenditure Survey and the National Family Health Survey. These provide the underlying data for understanding household incomes, employment trends and sectoral productivity.
For equity investors, NSO data matters because GDP growth directly drives corporate revenue growth, particularly for domestically oriented sectors. Advance GDP estimates released before the end of a fiscal year influence market expectations for the budget and for monetary policy. Revisions to past GDP data can also recalibrate analysts' understanding of the economic cycle and the earnings trajectory of listed companies.