also participating in the imf ’ s coordinated portfolio investment survey ( cpis ) and coordinated direct investment survey ( cdis ). we contribute to the bank for international settlements ( bis ) data exchange programme. apart from the standard balance sheet related data for banks, we have a unique database, the basic statistical return ( bsr ), that provides detailed granular unit level data on important parameters of financial intermediation by the banking sector. the balance of payments ( bop ) statistics are generally based on near - complete enumeration of transactions through banking channel, unlike many other countries. we have started disseminating data on trade in services on a monthly basis starting from june 2011. statistics on corporate sector is being collected and analysed by the reserve bank for well over six decades now. the reserve bank has a long tradition in conducting surveys. for example, the direct all - india rural credit survey, later rechristened as the all india debt and investment survey, was initiated by the reserve bank way back in 1951. the reserve bank conducted the first census of india ’ s foreign assets and liabilities in 1948. since then surveys have evolved as per the need for analysis. in the recent years, the reserve bank has introduced several forward - looking quarterly surveys such as the industrial outlook survey, order book and capacity utilisation survey, inflation expectations survey, professional forecasters survey and credit conditions survey. these surveys provide inputs to the reserve bank ’ s quarterly monetary policy assessments. the results of these surveys are released in public domain for further research and analysis. apart from generation and dissemination of statistics, statisticians are also posted across various departments of the bank. they provide support for different operational aspects such as payment system, risk analysis, currency management and portfolio management evaluation. furthermore, statisticians internally generate forecasts for key macroeconomic variables. they do their own research, and publish many of their research findings. let me now turn to some of the emerging challenges. first, we must recognise that timely and accurate representation is the core objective of a good statistical system. it provides foundation for good analysis and effective policy - making. in this context, the bank ’ s it - vision document emphasises the use of uniform reporting standards and automated data flow from the source system of banks to the reserve bank. this will ensure data integration, reduce reporting burden and improve overall efficiency of the statistical system. the department should, therefore, gear up towards on - line reporting of information. second,

earlier data were released periodically through the reserve bank ’ s website and various publications. consolidated time - series data were made available through the annual publication of handbook of statistics on the indian economy ( hbs ). these data are now being made available on - line on almost on a real time basis on the rbi website. it will be desirable to aim at a single point of data storage and dissemination. the department can set an example by taking steps to migrate the entire macro - financial database into rbi ’ s data warehouse ( dbie ). bis central bankers ’ speeches third, in addition to the traditional statistical issues facing emerging economies like india, the global financial crisis has drawn attention to data gaps in the financial sector which needs to be addressed. the g - 20 has particularly emphasised the importance of data for better identification of the build - up of risks in the financial sector and of financial interconnectedness the proposal is to scale up sdds by including financial stability indicators ( fsis ). while the reserve bank has started providing data under this sdds - plus initiative, this process needs to be expanded further. the demands on statisticians is going to increase for which we should be prepared. fourth, macroeconomic models are important tools developed and used by major central banks for understanding the dynamics of growth, inflation, money, interest rates and other related variables in the context of formulating monetary policy. there is no unique way of macro - economic modelling. policy makers, therefore, tend to rely on a suite of modes to make their own judgements about policy action. the department should develop an independent policy model, to help understand the transmission of the policy signals to the real and financial sector. this will facilitate assessment of the medium - term impact of various policy variables and how they are informed by changes in macro - conditions. many countries have core dynamic stochastic general equilibrium ( dsge ) models for this purpose, which takes into account the micro foundations behind the macroeconomic behaviour of different sectors of the economy. the underlying microeconomic considerations could be quite complex for a rapidly growing economy like ours. there is, therefore, a need to make further progress towards development of a dsge model for indian economy. fifth, asset prices have become important to the conduct of monetary policy and maintenance of financial stability. one of the major data gaps on indian economy relates to asset prices, particularly commercial real estate and house prices. though initial efforts have been made to construct house price index ( hpi ) for seven cities