Letter to BS: Next govt must prioritise restoration of faith in GDP data

This refers to the editorial "More questions on GDP" (May 9). Data pertaining to various segments of the economy are key deciding factors in arriving at the performance of the economy. The data must be reliable but the authorities concerned are not ensuring that it is. It is not an uncommon practice to change crucial data according to the need and requirements of the government in power for ensuring political mileage. The inconsistent official data relating to the economy is negatively impacting the capital market and the inflow or the outflow of external funds. It is also shattering the confidence of investors. It is adversely affecting the market capitalisation of India Inc leading to the erosion of wealth of the investors. Faulty data will lead to erroneous conclusions and will adversely affect the end results.

The institutions that are responsible for publishing the statistical data must be free from the influence and intervention of the government. Correct, consistent and reliable data is extremely important to exhibit the real position of the  different sectors of the economy. As such, people responsible for mining the data should be held accountable if thy publish erroneous data.

V S K Pillai, Kottayam

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