Lok Sabha Question No. 614 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-05
Subject: Consumer Expenditure Survey
Ministry: STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION
Asked by: Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.614 TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.02.2020

## CONSUMER EXPENDITURE SURVEY

## 614.  SHRI ABU HASEM KHAN CHOWDHURY:

Will the Minister of STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the year-wise list of all the surveys conducted by the NSSO since 2014 till date;
- (b) the year-wise list of all surveys including Consumer Expenditure Survey (2017-18) and the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)(2017-18) conducted by the NSSO during the above  period  and  the  reasons  for  non-acceptance  of  each report which/whose findings have not been accepted;
- (c) the  specific  flaws  in  the  methodology  of  PLFS  (2017-18) and Consumer Expenditure Survey (2017-18) which acted as a  contributing  factor  in  the  rejection  of  the  report  by  the Government;
- (d) whether any changes have been made in the methodologies  of  the  surveys  for  rectifying/correcting  the flaws noticed therein; and
- (e)
- if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  OF  THE  MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION AND MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  OF  THE  MINISTRY OF PLANNING [RAO INDERJIT SINGH]

- (a)  to  (c):  The  year-wise  list  of  all  the  surveys  conducted  by  the NSSO  since  2014  and  reports  released  till  date  is  given  in  the Statement at Annex.

In  case  of  Enterprise  Survey  on  Services  Sector  (NSS  74 th   round (July, 2016 - June, 2017)), it was observed that there were issues in the  survey  methodology  which  would  not  have  led  to  meaningful results and thus only a technical report was brought out. In case of Household Consumer Expenditure Survey, as part of NSS 75 th  round (July  2017-June  2018),  the  results  were  examined  and  it  was observed that there was a significant variation in the levels in the consumption pattern as well as in the direction of the change while comparing with other administrative data sources and its inability to effectively  capture  the  levels  of  subsidy  of  goods  and  services consumed. Thus the survey results could not have been used for the base revision for the macro-economic indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Index of Industrial Production (IIP), Consumer  Price  Index  (CPI)  and  Wholesale  Price  Index  (WPI)  and would have led to inaccuracies in the estimates and thus, the report was not released.

In  case  of  Periodic  Labour  Force  Survey  (PLFS)  2017-18,  it  was observed that the sampling design had changed and led to incomparability with earlier surveys on Employment and Unemployment and this was included in the report released which is also available in the public domain.

(d)  &  (e):  The  Government  has  constituted  several  Committees  / Standing Committee(s) comprising eminent experts / academicians and  representatives  from  major  user  Ministries  /  Departments  to review the system and methodology relating to the NSS surveys on continuing  basis  and  recommend,  inter-alia,  the  improvements  in survey methodology with adequate data quality checks at the data capturing stage.

*****

## Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (c) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 614 for 05.02.2020 *****

List  of  Surveys  conducted  by  the  NSSO  since  2014  till  date  is  as under:

## 1. Surveys conducted during 2014:

- i. NSS 71 st round (January 2014 -June 2014) on Social Consumption: Education and  Social Consumption: Health
2. NSS 72 nd  round (July 2014 - June 2015) on Domestic Tourism Expenditure  Survey  and  Household  Expenditure  on  Services
- ii. and Durable Goods
- iii. Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) 2013-14 (October 2014 - June 2015)
5. 2.
6. i.
7. Surveys conducted during 2015:
8. Swachh Bharat Survey (May 2015 - June 2015)
- ii. NSS  73rd  round  (July  2015  -  June  2016)  on  Survey  on  Unincorporated Non-agricultural Enterprises (Excluding Construction)
- iii. Annual  Survey  of  Industries  (ASI)  2014-15  (January  2016  September 2016)
3. Surveys conducted during 2016:
- i. NSS 74th round (July 2016 - June 2017) on Enterprises Survey on Services Sector [only technical report released].
- ii. Annual  Survey  of  Industries  (ASI)  2015-16  (January  2017  October 2017)
14. 4.
15. Surveys conducted during 2017:
- i. NSS 75 th   round  (July  2017  -  June  2018)  on  Household  Social Consumption on Education, Household Social Consumption on Health
- ii. Periodic  Labour  Force  Survey  (PLFS)  launched  from  April, 2017.
- iii. Annual  Survey  of  Industries  (ASI)  2016-17  (January  2018  September 2018)
- iv. Household Consumer Expenditure Survey as part of NSS 75 th round was not released due to data quality issues.
5. Surveys conducted during 2018:
- i. NSS  76 th   round  (July  2018  -  December  2018)  on  Survey  of Persons with Disabilities and Survey on Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition
- ii. Annual  Survey  of  Industries  (ASI)  2017-18  (November  2018  June 2019)
23. iii.
24. Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) (2018-2019)
6. Surveys conducted during 2019 [reports will be prepared after processing of data]
- i. NSS 77 th   round (January 2019 - December 2019) on Land and Livestock Holdings of Households and Situation Assessment of Agriculture Households and Debt and Investment Survey. The field work was concluded on 31.12.2019.
- ii. Annual  Survey  of  Industries  (ASI)  2018-19  (November  2019  field work going on)
28. iii.
29. Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) (2019-2020).
- iv. Time  Use  Survey  (January  2019  -  December  2019).  The  field work  was  concluded  on  31.12.2019.  The  TUS would  be conducted once in every three years. The TUS (January 2019 December 2019) was the first survey.
- v. Annual Survey on Un-incorporated Sector Enterprises (October 2019 - March 2020).