RBI looking at housing stats survey

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is mulling putting in place a housing stat index survey to record the progress in the housing sector, Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan said today.

"Housing stats are something developed countries are watching very closely. It means how many houses are being built on a regular basis, and we are thinking of having it in India," Mohan said.

He, however, denied the survey was being led by any concerns regarding the booming housing sector.

"It is the index of construction activities... It is a good indicator of economic activity over a period of time. At present, no such data is available in India."

Mohan was addressing a seminar on the occasion of National Statistics Day.

The banking regulator was also looking at technically improving the inflation expectation survey for better results. "We are testing it," Mohan said, adding an expert committee was looking into the issue.

The apex bank was also co-operating with the government to define urban consumer price index (CPI) and rural CPI, he said.