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1. National Income Statistics: Background
Scholars attempting to estimate national income statistics for pre-independence India have confronted innumerable difficulties in finding reliable data. Whatever estimates they make, they are forced to rely on macrolevel data and/or to make numerous assumptions. Only for the period after India became independent in 1947 is it possible to find reliable official statistics. However, Pakistan's secession and the consequences difficulties experienced by the Indian territory have meant that no one has as yet made a concerted effort to link Indian national income statistics for the periods before 1946 and after 1947.
In 1949, soon after the establishment of independent India, the National Income Committee (NIC) was formed to compile statistics and estimate national income. The committee was headed by P.C. Maharanobis and included D.R. Gadgil and V.K.N.V. Rao. Assisting the NIC was the National Income Unit (NIU), directed to prepare estimates of national income every year. The NIU was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, later changed to the Central Statistical Organisation.
Estimates of Indian national income have been based upon four sets of statistical series. First, The Estimates of National Income was published in 1956, and had a 1948-49 base year. Second, The Estimates of National Product was published in 1957 as a revision of the conventional series. The revised edition had a 1960-61 base year and gradually came to include personal consumption expenditure, savings, capital formation, factor incomes, consolidated accounts, and public sector accounts. Renamed The National Accounts Statistics (NAS) in 1975, it included estimated values fo ...