NSO struggles to gather accurate inflation, industrial data during lockdown

Monthly price data is collected from 1,114 markets across 310 towns by the field operations division of the statistics ministry and the specified

The National Statistics Office (NSO) is facing a distinct challenge during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown:  How to gather accurate data to compute retail inflation and industrial production, which are among the key metrics for the economy? 

Closed shops and markets, field officers working from home, and factory personnel unavailable to provide data are the hurdles the statistics department is battling during this unusual time. With data collection officers working remotely, price data is being collected on phone rather than through physical visits for the consumer price index (CPI), raising accuracy concerns. The other challenge relates to the closure of some markets which