Pvt sector capex survey, economic census on cards

The government plans to initiate several enterprise-related surveys in the next few months including a survey to assess capital investments by the private sector and an economic census. The annual capex survey will track annual private sector capital spending.

Officials said that a fresh Annual Survey of Industries, Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises as well as Annual Survey of Service Sector Enterprises would be launched in the next one year.

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) will roll out the Capital Expenditure or Capex Survey in October which would help determine investments being made over the next two years by the private sector and the expected demand. It would include all non-financial and financial corporations based on a list of active resident companies taken from the ministry of corporate affairs.


The capex survey aims to track private sector investment patterns, while the Economic Census will detail the total count of establishments across formal and informal sectors, capturing critical parameters such as economic activity and ownership patterns.

The capex survey is based on a recommendation by the Parliamentary Standing Committee that suggested the government should devise a methodology to capture capex data of the private sector.

"Specific measures have been taken and will continue to be taken based on the data that we get from such surveys," said Saurabh Garg, secretary, ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) at an event on the Enterprises Survey conducted by NSS.