Data: As One Awaits the Release of The NCRB Reports for 2023, Here is How the Delay in Release of Reports Changed Over Time
Since 1953, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has been collecting and publishing data on crime and related topics in India. Each year, it releases three key reports: Crime in India (CII), Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India (ADSI), and Prison Statistics India (PSI). However, the delay in the release of these reports is causing concern. Here is how the delay changed over time.
It’s 2 April 2025. A Member of Parliament receives a reply in the House to a question he had raised a few weeks earlier, sometime in March. The question was simple, but heavy: Are suicides increasing in our cities? It’s a question that comes from concern for the lives lost, and for the families grieving. It wasn’t just a matter of numbers. Behind the question were stories of silent struggles, unseen pain, and lives lost in the noise of urban life.
But the answer that came was cold and distant. The Minister stated that the latest data on suicides is available only till the year 2022, as published by the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) ‘Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India’ reports.
That’s it.
Nothing from 2023. No updates from 2024. Just a reference to a report that’s over two years old. And this is especially unfortunate because the question specifically asked about the trend over the last three years. A question rooted in the present was answered with data from the past. And here we are, already into 2025, still searching for answers in outdated reports. No insight into the last two years. No picture of what’s happening now. Just silence wrapped in old statistics. What good is a mirror if it only shows us who we were years ago?
To understand just how deep this problem runs, we looked at how delayed these crucial reports have been, year after year. Consider this an update to our earlier story on a similar issue, which can be read here. The data is sourced from Dataful.
Inside the NCRB Reports: What they reveal and how they’re put together
Since 1953, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has been collecting and publishing data on crime and related topics in India. Each year, it releases three key reports: Crime in India (CII), Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India (ADSI), and Prison Statistics India (PSI). These reports provide a detailed look at crime, accidents, suicides, and prison conditions, with some data available down to the district level.
The information in these reports helps paint a clear picture of crime trends and public safety across the country and serves as a vital resource for understanding the state of crime, justice, and safety in India.
Over the years, they’ve evolved and become more comprehensive, including categories such as crimes affecting India’s most marginalised groups, Economic Offences, Cyber Crimes, among others.
Data for these reports is collected from 89 data supplying centres, which include 36 States/Union Territories and 53 metropolitan cities with populations over 10 lakh. The NCRB uses a dedicated software application for digital data collection, which is compiled at the district and state levels before being processed at the Bureau. The software includes built-in checks for verification and validation, and any discrepancies are sent back for revalidation. States/Union Territories also receive training to ensure consistency and adherence to standardised data collection formats.
Methodology behind calculation of delay
Since NCRB reports are based on calendar year data, the data collection process can only begin once the year ends, automatically introducing some delay. However, for the purpose of calculating how delayed a report is, we use January of the following year as the reference point. So, if the 2022 report is published in December 2023, we calculate the delay from January 2023 onward, resulting in an 11-month lag.
How late is too late? CII Reports lag behind by an average of 10 months between 2013 and 2022.
The Crime in India reports have been around since 1953, telling us how crime trends have changed across the country each year. But there’s always been one big issue: they’re often late. Sometimes, very late.
On average, these reports took around 22 months to come out over the years. That means by the time we get the numbers, almost two years have passed. Since 2001, though, things have improved a bit, with the average delay dropping to less than 11 months.
But the 1980s were especially bad. The report for 1984—the year of the anti-Sikh riots—came out only in 1992, a full 86 months later. The 1985 report took more than six years, and the 1983 report was delayed by five years. These three years saw the longest delays ever.
If we look at the trend by decade, the average delay kept growing until the early ’90s. From about 14 months in the 1950s, it jumped to nearly 43 months in the 1970s. After that, things slowly got better. In the 1990s, the delay came down to 16 months, and between 2003 and 2012, it dropped below 10 months for the first time. In the last decade (2013–2022), the average delay was about 10.4 months.
The fastest the report has ever come out was in 2005—it was published just 7 months after the year ended, which is a record. From 2010 to 2015, things were running smoothly, with every report being released within 10 months. It showed that timely reporting was possible. But then came 2017. That year’s report took 22 months to be published—the longest delay since 1989.
The 2023 Crime in India report, as of now, is already over 15 months late. When this delay was raised in Parliament, the Ministry replied that the data validation process is in its final stages. So, even though things have gotten better over the years, there’s still a long wait between when crimes happen and when we get the full picture. And that wait is often longer than it should be.
ADSI Reports: A Similar story of delays, with average delay being 20 months
The Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India (ADSI) report is another key annual publication by the NCRB. It provides detailed statistics on road and rail accidents, causes of accidental deaths, and trends in suicides across the country.
Since 1976, ADSI reports have been released with an average delay of around 20 months, slightly better than the Crime in India reports, but still quite late. Between 1976 and 1987, the average delay was as high as 33 months. It improved to 19 months between 1988 and 1999 and then saw further reductions, dropping to 5.5 months between 2000 and 2011, and 12.2 months from 2012 to 2022.
Like with the CII reports, the period from 2010 to 2015 saw timely releases, with each ADSI report published within a year. But the trend didn’t hold. The 2016 report came out after a long delay of 34 months-highest since 1988. As for the 2023 edition, it’s still pending.
Prison Statistics delayed by an average of 17 months, down to 14 months between 2016-22
The Prison Statistics India report, introduced in 1995, is a crucial part of understanding the criminal justice system, shedding light on prison populations, occupancy rates, demographics, and more.
Since its launch, the report has been delayed by an average of 17 months. Between 1995 and 2001, the average delay was 24 months. This improved to 20 months between 2002 and 2009, and further to just 11 months between 2009 and 2015. However, the delay crept up again to 14 months in the 2016–2022 period. Notably, the 2016 report was released after a 27-month delay—the longest since 2001. As of now, the 2023 report is still awaited.
Some Delays are Understandable, Others are not
Not every delay is a sign of wrongdoing. Sometimes, it’s about progress. Over the years, the NCRB has expanded the scope of its reports, adding newer categories of crime, updating how data is captured, and trying to paint a clearer picture of the country’s complex criminal landscape. These kinds of delays, though frustrating, are understandable. They reflect an evolving system trying to keep pace with a changing society.
But not all delays carry the same intent. When the same reports are held back for months, sometimes years, and the reason given is that a few states haven’t sent their data, they give rise to allegations that the reason for delays is political and not technical. In fact, with the advent of technology and digital initiatives like the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS), the delay in release of such data should ideally reduce and not increase.
No matter the reason, delays in data hurt everyone. Policymakers are left working with old numbers. Institutions grow weaker. And people don’t get the full picture of what’s happening in the country. In the end, it’s not just data that’s delayed—it’s progress.