feedback loops between the global and the domestic economy, on the one hand, and between the financial and real sectors, on the other, have bis central bankers ’ speeches become more complex. in this context, it has become difficult to make reasonable impact assessment of macro - policies. moreover, the capability of standard models in the armoury of central banks in predicting growth and inflation is being questioned. primary assumptions of basic dsge models have come under attack both from policymakers and academia. there is, therefore, a need to revisit the modelling strategy in the light of the increased uncertainty, leverage and global linkages. it is important to harness appropriate statistical tools to capture the underlying dynamics of economic - financial framework. ladies and gentlemen, we are fortunate to have amidst us luminaries who are not only accomplished statisticians but some of them are at the helm of statistical administration. i am confident that the deliberations today will not only guide us in setting our statistical agenda in the reserve bank but also will go a long way in strengthening the indian statistical system, for which prof. mahalonobis worked tirelessly. 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

) for tracking movements in house prices based on housing finance data available with banks and housing finance companies. finally, given the increasing analytical requirements, the department of statistics and information management ( dsim ) was re - organised with added emphasis on research. a structured research agenda was developed to align institutional requirements with individual capabilities. in 2011, 23 research papers were published in various national and international journals with another seven papers published in rbi working paper series. while these achievements are significant, let me highlight some broad areas where we need to focus to further refine the statistics generation process in the reserve bank. first, it is important to further improve our database of banking infrastructure in the country in order to gauge the extent of financial inclusion and assess the efficacy of various policy actions taken in this regard. efforts should be made to make available all granular banking data, including those collected through the basic statistical returns ( bsrs ), on our website through the database on the indian economy ( dbie ). second, there is need for close co - ordination between statisticians and bank supervisors, both in the commercial and cooperative banking space, to identify and mitigate data gaps in the supervisory review process and also to facilitate appropriate risk assessment for the banking system. third, the data reporting system needs to be geared towards automated data capture from the source systems. it is imperative to scrutinise and validate the data used for analysis through application of data filters, so as not to accept data at the face value and also to identify and reduce the noise element inherent in large data sets. this will make macrofinancial data more useable. in keeping with the reserve bank ’ s it vision, the efforts should be to automate data flow from the reporting entities through adoption of appropriate straightthrough - processing systems. the use of data warehouse for processing should be strengthened for improving quality, integrity and delivery of data. fourth, “ inflation expectation ” has come to occupy a central place in our monetary analysis. in this regard, the quarterly forward - looking inflation expectations survey for households ( iesh ) provides vital inputs in the monetary policy formulation process. but, it is urbancentric as the coverage is limited to 12 cities at present. there is, therefore, a need to further broad - base the coverage for better encapsulation of the heterogeneity of expectations in our system. finally, forecasting of key macroeconomic variables has become difficult in the aftermath of the global financial crisis as the