Six years after changing the tradition of presentation of the union budget from the last day of February to the first day of the same month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi government has introduced another major change in the release of macro-economic data. The annual advance estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP) will now be released one month later – on the last working day of February instead of the last working day of January.
According to the latest ‘release calendar’ of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the first revised estimates of national income, consumption expenditure, saving and capital formation for the financial year 2021-22 will be released on 28th February 2023 by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
The data scheduled to be released on 28th February 2023 will also include the second revised estimates of national income, consumption expenditure, saving and capital formation for the financial year 2020-21. It will also have the third revised estimate for the financial year 2019-20. The National Accounts Division of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has issued a notification in this regard.
Last year, these data for the corresponding financial years were released on 31st January.
The government seems to have decided to rejig the data release calendar in view of the presentation of the budget.
In 2017, the date for the presentation of the union budget was changed from the last day of February to the first day of February. The union budget used to be presented on the last day of February since the colonial period. However, in 2017 this colonial tradition was changed. The then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the union budget 2017-18 on 1st February 2017, breaking the colonial tradition. Since then, the union budget is presented on the first day of February every year.
The Economic Survey is presented a day before the budget. This year it is scheduled to be presented on 31st January. As the annual economic survey report also carries data on GDP growth and other estimates, the government seems to have changed the date for the release of the NSO data to avoid confusion. As per the data released by the NSO earlier this month, the provisional estimate of GDP for the year 2021-22 stood at Rs 147.36 lakh crore at constant (2011-12) prices. The GDP is estimated to reach Rs 157.60 lakh crore in the financial year 2022-23, posting an annual growth of 7 per cent.