By M Muneer

In 2015, India changed its GDP base year (from 2004-05 to 2011-12) and made other methodology shifts, like using more corporate sector data via MCA-21, greater reliance on formal rather than informal sector output, measuring GDP at market prices (including indirect taxes) rather than factor costs, etc. These changes introduced several problems.

Corporate bias and weak informal sector representation: Since many households, small enterprises, informal workshops, etc. do not file audited accounts, many estimates rely on proxies. The informal sector, which employs more than 80% of the workforce, is hard to measure well; shifting away from industrial production-based surveys (Index of Industrial Production, Annual Survey of Industries) in favour of corporate databases may underw

See Full Page