NSO

The National Statistical Office (NSO) is the operational arm of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), created in May 2019 by merging the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). NSO is responsible for collecting, compiling, and releasing official statistics including: National Accounts (GDP, GVA, sectoral output), Index of Industrial Production (IIP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), and Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES). NSO is governed methodologically by the System of National Accounts (SNA) 2008 and reports through MoSPI to the National Statistical Commission (NSC). Major recent reforms include: HCES 2022-23 results (released 2024), ASI 2022-23 (published 2024), Annual GDP Provisional Estimates for FY26 with new 2022-23 base year (May 29, 2026), and the revised IIP series with 2022-23 base year (May 2026). The base year revision is the most significant since 2015 (when 2011-12 replaced 2004-05). NSO's advisory committee was chaired during the current revision by Biswanath Goldar.

• 1 Created: May 2019 (merger of CSO + NSSO)
• 2 Parent ministry: MoSPI
• 3 Releases: GDP, IIP, CPI, PLFS, ASI, HCES
• 4 Methodology: SNA 2008 (System of National Accounts)
• 5 Governing body: National Statistical Commission (NSC)
• 6 FY26 GDP estimate (provisional, May 29, 2026): ~7.6% real growth
• 7 New IIP base year: 2022-23 (vs 2011-12 previously)
• 8 New IIP basket: 1,042 items / 463 item groups (vs 839 items / 407 groups)
• 9 Advisory Committee chair (current revision): Biswanath Goldar
• 10 Base year revision history: 1980-81 → 1993-94 → 1999-2000 → 2004-05 → 2011-12 → 2022-23

On May 29, 2026, NSO released the FY26 Provisional Estimates of Annual GDP alongside the revamped 2022-23 base year — a watershed moment for India's statistical architecture, captured in Business Standard's editorial on the new IIP series.