need to expand our sample size and the coverage of financial details. we should also establish links with ministry of corporate affairs ( mca ) database to improve our coverage of corporate statistics. third, asset prices, particularly house prices are assuming greater importance in monetary transmission. while development of housing finance in advanced countries has a long history, the expansion of housing finance by the formal financial sector in india is of relatively recent origin. keeping in view the demand - supply gap, our favourable demography, increasing urbanisation and growth prospects, the demand for housing finance will continue to grow. at the same time risks also arise to household and bank balance sheets with fluctuation in prices and changes in the business cycle. hence, there is a need for developing a data base on housing finance. availability of statistics on housing finance has been limited. we have two publicly available house price indices ( hpis ) : ( i ) nhb - residex compiled on survey based information for 20 cities, and ( ii ) rbi - hpi based on registration prices information for 9 cities. however, to assess the impact of house prices on the broader economy such information as loan to value ( ltv ) ratio, equated monthly instalment ( emi ) to income ratio, price to income ratio, borrowers ’ characteristics and other important attributes of the property dealings becomes important. recently the department has launched a new statistical survey to capture such information based on housing loan transaction as available with banks and housing finance companies ( hfcs ). i hope this survey can be placed in public domain quickly after it is examined by our technical advisory committee on surveys. on this occasion of the statistics day i congratulate colleagues from the statistics department for the good work they are doing. i once again extend a hearty welcome to all our speakers and all our invitees, and look forward to the intellectual fare ahead. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

deepak mohanty : statistics and the reserve bank of india remarks by mr deepak mohanty, executive director of the reserve bank of india, at the statistics day conference, mumbai, 30 august 2013. * * * governor dr. subbarao, prof. bimal roy, prof. richard smith, prof. b. l. s. prakasa rao, prof. subhashis ghoshal, deputy governor dr. patel, deputy governors, colleague executive directors, shri a. b. chakraborty, distinguished guests from the financial sector and academia, members of the press, colleagues from the department of statistics and information management ( dsim ) and friends. i extend a warm welcome to all of you to this 7th statistics day conference. since 2007, we in the reserve bank have been celebrating statistics day in the honour of prof. p. c. mahalanobis. professor mahalanobis was not only an outstanding statistician, but a great visionary. he is regarded as the father of the indian statistical system. while we honour the sterling contribution of prof. mahalnobis, this event has turned out to be an important occasion for focusing on further development of statistics in the reserve bank. prof. mahalanobis was the founder director of the indian statistical institute ( isi ). we are happy that two isi directors – prof. bimal roy and prof. b. l. s. prakasa rao – are here with us today. prof. mahalanobis studied and spent his early years in cambridge. we are delighted that prof. smith, a leading econometrician from cambridge is with us today. we also have with us prof. ghoshal from north carolina university who represents the new generation of statisticians. i once again welcome our guest speakers. the year 2013 has added significance for statistics as it has been declared as the international year of statistics. primary objectives of this worldwide event, supported by several organizations, are to increase public awareness of the power and impact of statistics on all aspects of society, to nurture statistics as a profession, especially among young people, and to promote creativity and development in the sciences of probability and statistics. in the reserve bank, we treat statistics as a public good. it is necessary not only to aid our decision making but also for empowerment of citizens. our statistics department is playing an important role by making available macro - financial statistics in the public domain, conducting forward looking surveys and generating forecasts