(05 June 2023) Government Data Roundup: Reports by RBI, MoSPI, Data of GDP Estimates, Foodgrain Production Estimates Among Those Released Recently

Pavithra K M

The 30th edition of the fortnightly government roundup covers reports released by RBI, MoSPI, Ministry of Finance, data on GDP estimates, foodgrain production estimates among others.

In this 30^th edition of Factly’s fortnightly government data round-up, reports released in the last two weeks of the month of May have been covered. Reports published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare, Ministry of Finance, and the Department of Science and Technology have been covered in the story.

India’s Climate Research Agenda: 2030 and beyond

Report name	India’s Climate Research Agenda: 2030 and beyond
Sector	Science and Technology
Agency responsible	Department of Science & Technology
Frequency of release	–
Source Link	India’s Climate Research Agenda: 2030 and beyond

About the report:

The report titled ‘India’s Climate Research Agenda: 2030 and Beyond’ provides a detailed review and future research direction on select themes like Monsoon, Climate Modelling, Aerosol- Climate Interactions, Hydrology & Cryosphere, Extreme Events, Oceanic Sciences, Urban Climate, Carbon Cycle, and sector-specific climate services, as identified by experts. It identifies various key research areas that need to be addressed to mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt to the changes.

Key Findings:

Short-term goals to address the gaps by 2030 highlight the need for interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers working on various facets of monsoon and the industry to translate the existing knowledge into useful products for end users, such as farmers.
With respect to climate modelling, setting up a national body of climate modelers (NCBM) involving researchers and academicians from diverse fields has been recommended.
It calls for the expansion and strengthening of the ground-based observational network for aerosols and related climate variables.
Development of high-density observation networks, improved regional modelling approaches to develop early warning systems, and bringing scientific understanding to policymakers for preparing resilience and adaptive measures are the short-term goals for dealing with extreme events.
Creating national-level vegetation productivity data considering the CO₂ fertilization effect and the role of meteorological drivers and estimation and projection of the carbon uptake potential of Indian forests and intensified agriculture will help plan to achieve the net zero emission target, suggests the report.
Disaster risk mitigation, water conservation, and health are other areas touched upon in the agenda.

Some of the key findings from the latest versions of the reports covered in previous editions of the round-up are given below. The Quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey and Payroll Reporting in India concerning the labour and employment sector are published by MoSPI. Another publication of MoSPI is the ‘Provisional Estimate of National Income 2022-23’ and ‘Quarterly Estimates of GDP for Fourth Quarter of 2022-23’ which estimates the growth of national income. Reports from the Finance Sector include the Annual Report of RBI and the bank’s monthly bulletin.

Periodic Labour Force Survey – Quarterly Bulletin (January to March 2023)

The survey, which underlines the importance of the availability of the labour force data at regular intervals of time measures the employment and unemployment indicators in intervals of three months in urban areas in current week status as well as usual status. The latest report revealed that India’s urban unemployment rate was 6.8% and had touched the lowest level ever since the publication began in 2018. The Labour Force Participation Ratio in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above was 48.5%, up from 47.3% recorded during the same period in 2022. The Worker Population Ratio was also high with 45.2%.

Payroll Reporting in India: An Employment Perspective – March 2023

MoSPI’s monthly report covers the period from September 2017 up to March 2023. It provides information on the number of subscribers under three major schemes- the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme, the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Scheme and the National Pension Scheme (NPS) is published in these reports. As per the latest report, 6.43 crore gross new subscribers joined the EPF scheme since September 2017. Likewise, 8.16 crore gross new subscribers joined the ESI scheme and 42.46 lakh gross new subscribers joined and contributed to the NPS Central Government, State Governments and Corporate schemes during the same period.

RBI’s Monthly Bulletin

RBI’s Monthly Bulletin for the month of May 2023 stated that India’s growth in the first quarter of 2023-24 is likely to be driven primarily by private consumption, supported by reviving rural demand, and renewed buoyancy in manufacturing on easing of input cost pressures. Further, it added that the global economy is transfixed in the crosscurrents of slowing growth and high inflation, and an uneasy calm prevails in the global financial markets as they await clearer signals from policy authorities on banking regulation and supervision and contours of deposit insurance. Other articles in the report are Exploring India’s Export Potential through the Lens of Export Similarity Indices, India’s Steady State Equilibrium Inflation: A Revisit, India, and COP-26 Commitments: Challenges for the Mining Sector, and Basic and Digital Financial Literacy in the Last Mile: A Snapshot from Rural West Bengal.

RBI’s Annual Report for 2022-23

Some key highlights from the report are the following.

The size of RBI’s balance sheet increased by 2.5% from Rs. 61,90,302.27 crore as on 31 March 2022 to Rs. 63,44,756.24 crore as on 31 March 2023.
The payment and settlement systems recorded a robust growth of 57.8% in terms of transaction volume during 2022-23. In terms of value, the growth was 19.2%, which has been attributed to the growth in Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS).
During 2022-23, payment transactions carried out through credit cards increased by 30.1% and 47.3% in terms of volume and value, respectively.
Total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) fell to $46 billion in 2022-23, the lowest in 3 years as per RBI’s provisional estimates.
Compared to the previous year, there was an increase of 8.4% and 14.4% in the counterfeit notes detected in the denominations of Rs. 20 and Rs. 500 (new design), respectively while counterfeit notes detected in the denominations of Rs. 10, Rs. 100 and Rs. 2000 declined.
Though the number of bank frauds has increased, the amount involved has dropped by 49%.

Provisional Estimate of National Income 2022-23 and Quarterly Estimates of GDP for Fourth Quarter of 2022-23

Released by MoSPI, these estimates provide data on India’s estimated GDP growth for 2022-23 and the last quarter, January to March of 2022-23. As per the publication, India’s Real GDP growth during 2022-23 is estimated at 7.2% as compared to 9.1% in 2021-22. India’s quarterly GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2022-23 is estimated at 6.1%, up from 4% in the same quarter in 2021-22.

Third Advance Estimates of Production of major crops

Third Advance Estimates of production of major crops for the agricultural year 2022-23 was released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Foodgrain production of 3305.34 Lakh Tonnes is estimated for the year 2022-23. This is 149.18 LMT more than the previous year 2021-22. The total production of Rice during 2022-23 is estimated at a record 1355.42 lakh metric tonnes (LMT), 60.71 lakh tonnes more than the previous year. Likewise, Wheat production is estimated at 1127.43 LMT which is 50.01LMT more compared to 2021-22. India’s production of Nutri / Coarse Cereals is estimated at 547.48 lakh tonnes, 36.47LMT more than that in the previous year.