CEA: Alternative data crucial for policymaking

New Delhi: Alternative datasets offer crucial distinctive perspectives, making them essential for policymaking, chief economic advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran said on Thursday.

However, he emphasised that these data sources are not a substitute to the official statistical system and serve as a complement to it.

Official statistics are backed by decades of usage, rigorous methodologies and inbuilt checks, which lend them a high degree of reliability and accuracy, Nageswaran said at a two-day workshop on 'Using Alternate Data Sources and Frontier Technologies for Policy Making', organised by the statistics ministry.


Suman K Bery, vice chairperson of NITI and chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister (EAC-PM), also highlighted the need to integrate conventional and alternate data sources for more robust decision-making.

The workshop was attended by over 450 participants from central ministries, state governments, international organisations such as the World Bank, research institutions and the private sector.

Saurabh Garg, secretary, MoSPI emphasised on creating an ecosystem of policy, technology and basic skill environment to promote the usage of alternate data sources.