EAC-PM chair flags comparability issue in latest consumption surveys

S Mahendra Dev says recent HCES lacks comparability with previous surveys due to design changes and suggests pilot-stage testing should have included comparability checks

The latest annual editions of household consumption expenditure survey (HCES) released recently have “comparability” issues with the previous iterations of the consumption surveys, said S Mahendra Dev, chairman, economic advisory council to the prime minister (EAC -PM) on Monday.

 

Besides, he added that there should have been a comparability test during the pilot stages itself to address this.

 

“Earlier questionnaires would take around 2.5 hours to three hours to collate responses. By the end of it, a sort of fatigue used to set in, which would make recalling non-food expenditure difficult. Whereas now there are multiple visits to a single household lasting 45-50 minutes. This makes recalling easier. Hence, there should have been some sort of comparability tests done during the pilot studies,” added Dev at the launch of the book ‘75 years of the Indian National Sample Surveys’, authored by G C Manna, former director general of Central Statistics Organisation (CSO).

 

The National Statistics Office (NSO) has released results for two annual HCES in 2024, after a gap of more than 11 years.

 

 

Dev further acknowledged the problem of underestimation of female labour force participation in the periodic labour force survey (PLFS) and suggested that more probing questions should be asked while conducting the survey.

 

Also, speaking at the event, ministry of statistics and program implementation (MoSPI) secretary Saurabh Garg said that the focus of the upcoming 81st and 82nd round of National Sample Survey (NSS) is going to be those data gaps that will be important for growth of the economy.

 

“For example, we are planning a survey on estimating the common property resources in the urban areas. Also, we are focussing extensively on using administrative data as well, for which we have come up with standards,” added Garg.