ET Comment on IIP: Urgent need to firm up statistical wings of the government

India's industry, going by the sad tale told by the index of industrial production ( IIP), desperately cries out for any straw to clutch at. The August numbers offer such a straw. Government spokesmen and analysts can point to a positive, 2.7% growth overall, after having registered negative growth in all save one of the five months after March. This is good.

In capital goods, the extent of decline has come down sharply as compared to previous months. Consumer goods have turned in decent growth. Electricity is not artificially jacking up the growth figures. Mining has shown a growth of 2%, after having declined most months of this fiscal so far.

Since data is highly suspect, being grossly out of step with the trends revealed by the financial data of relevant companies, there is urgent need to firm up the statistical wings of the government. The private sector's booming demand for statisticians has driven up their salaries way beyond what the government pays and so many statistical wings of government departments are badly understaffed. Unless this problem is fixed, we will continue to get data whose validity and therefore utility remain suspect.