How Good Are India's Industrial Statistics?

There is a growing perception of a steady deterioration of the quality of India's industrial statistics. Is this perception justified? To find out, this study examines the quality of the Index of Industrial Production, and some aspects of the Annual Survey of Industries, and the National Accounts Statistics. The study also examines if (a) the popularly used financial indicators really reflect the underlying investment trends, and (b) the expected association between electricity consumption and industrial output holds. Though exploratory, the findings reported seem to support the growing perception.