COVID-19: Key statistical data including inflation figures release may face temporary halt

The country may not get important statistical data related to inflation, employment, industrial production and exports/imports among others beyond February as the data collection work has been suspended in view of the country-wide lockdown due to coronavirus.

The absence of data may reduce the next monetary policy exercise by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as it could turn out to be only a stock-taking exercise of the current crisis.

The consumer price inflation data for March, trade data and wholesale inflation data for March were to released in between April 12 and April 18.

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Official sources said it is highly unlikely that these data sets would be unveiled now. However, a final decision is under consideration. "The data collected for March inflation is only for about 15 days. Only the industrial production data is available for the full month of February. Let us see," an official said.

However, the industrial production data for February to be released on April 9, will go as planned.

The government and the RBI collect a host of data from consumers, businesses and households in order to prepare policy related to governance and give the outlook on economic growth and inflation in the country.

The government’s data collection office has stopped collecting numbers since mid-March, an official said. The lockdown implies virtually no data collection as these centres of trade are no so developed for a compilation of numbers on phone or internet.

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The production and sales data of companies too could be truncated due to suspension of production in the lockdown period that began in the third week of March.

The retail inflation data, which plays a vital part in setting interest rate by the RBI, is collected from close to 1,200 village markets and 1,115 urban centres.

"In the absence of data, the next RBI monetary policy may be reduced to only a stock-taking exercise of the current crisis,” the State Bank of India said in a research paper.

Though the government has reiterated that the lockdown would not be extended beyond April 15, the data collection could be hampered until some kind of stability returns to the market, according to analysts.