A report by the National Statistical Office states that consumer expenditure has fallen for the first time in more than four decades. The report is based on a consumption expenditure survey conducted by the organisation between July 2017 and June 2018.
The Business Standard on Thursday, 21 November, reported that the Narendra Modi government’s expert committee which was put together to review the leaked consumer expenditure survey done by National Statistical Office (NSO) "did not recommend junking it".
The committee included NSO director general and National Statistical Commission (NSC) member GC Manna, failed to flag the ‘data quality’ issues in the 2017-18 report and instead issued it for publication in June 2019 itself.
A leaked report by the NSO, based on the consumer expenditure survey done by the organization between July 2017 and June 2018 has shown a drop in consumption expenditure for the first time four decades due to lesser rural demand.
However, within hours of the newspaper’s report, the government said that the 2017-18 report wouldn’t be released due to some ‘data-quality issues’. The government added saying the report will be released in the next two years.
The expert committee however made recommendations for improving the future surveys.
"The committee gave its recommendations for improving future NSO surveys. It didn't find any issues related to data collection and data validation related to the consumer expenditure survey of 2017-18," a source told Business Standard.
The survey was conducted during the implementation of goods and services tax (GST), which was then preceded by the Modi government’s demonetisation move in November 2016.
