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MoSPI Plans City-Level Reports for 47 Million-Plus Cities to Boost Urban Planning

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has proposed creating dedicated city-level statistical reports for 47 million-plus cities to address data gaps. These reports will utilize existing data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey and the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises. Two annual thematic reports are planned: one on employment profiles and another on the urban informal sector. The initiative aims to enhance urban statistics, support policy-making, and improve city-level GDP estimation.

Key Points: MoSPI City-Level Reports for 47 Million-Plus Cities

  • MoSPI proposes city-level reports for 47 million-plus cities
  • Reports based on PLFS & ASUSE data
  • First report on employment profile, second on informal sector
  • Aims to support urban policy, GDP estimation, and public access
2 min read

MoSPI proposes city-level statistical reports for 47 million-plus cities to improve urban planning

MoSPI proposes dedicated statistical reports for 47 million-plus cities using PLFS & ASUSE data to improve urban planning, employment insights, and GDP estimation.

"Despite this, official statistics at the city level remain limited, constraining evidence-based urban policy and planning - Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation"

New Delhi, April 24

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has proposed to develop dedicated city-level statistical reports for 47 million-plus cities, aiming to bridge data gaps and support evidence-based urban policy.

According to an official press release by the said ministry, the initiative will create "dedicated city-level statistical reports for 47 million-plus cities (as per Population Census 2011)" using existing data from the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The ministry said the reports will be based on data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE), which "already allow statistically robust estimation at the city level."

The move comes amid rapid urbanisation in India. "Despite this, official statistics at the city level remain limited, constraining evidence-based urban policy and planning," the ministry noted.

Two annual thematic reports have been proposed under the framework. "The first will present the Employment Profile of Million-Plus Cities, providing key labour market indicators such as Labour Force Participation Rate, Worker Population Ratio, and Unemployment Rate," the release said.

The second report will focus on the informal sector. "The second will present a City-Level Profile of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises, capturing the scale, structure, employment, and economic performance of the urban informal sector," it added.

Highlighting the significance of the initiative, the ministry said the proposal "marks an important step in aligning India's statistical system with the realities of a rapidly urbanising economy".

The reports aim to "enhance the availability of granular urban statistics, support city-level policy formulation, contribute to city-level GDP estimation, and improve understanding of urban labour markets and enterprise dynamics," according to the release.

MoSPI also said the reports will be released annually and made available in the public domain in "user-friendly formats".

The ministry has invited feedback from stakeholders on the proposed framework. A consultation paper has been uploaded on the MoSPI website, and "the views of stakeholders are invited to review and suggest improvements to the proposed framework, indicators, methodology, and dissemination strategy," it said.

- ANI

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Reader Comments

K
Kavya N
Good initiative, but I'm skeptical about data quality from ASUSE and PLFS. These surveys have small sample sizes and miss many informal workers. In my colony in Bangalore, the street vendors, domestic helps, and gig workers are hardly captured. Will the reports acknowledge these limitations?
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Siddharth J
This is exactly what we need for smarter urban governance. If they can pull this off, it would help municipalities plan everything from garbage collection routes to public transport frequency. But knowing how government works, hope they make the data truly open and downloadable, not just PDFs buried on a website.
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Nisha Z
Important step, but why only million-plus cities? Tier 2 and 3 cities are growing fast too and need data. Also, city-level GDP estimation sounds ambitious - hope they use proper methodology, not just apportioning state GDP by population. Transparency in how these numbers are derived is crucial.
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Sneha F
As a researcher working on urban informality, I'm thrilled about the informal sector profile! The unincorporated sector is the backbone of our urban economy - those chai walas, tiffin services, roadside mechanics. We need to understand their scale and challenges to design better social security schemes. Hope they involve local universities in data collection.
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Varun X
Great to see MoSPI taking this seriously. But let's not forget that we also need real-time data, not just annual reports. In 2024, city-level dashboards updated quarterly are a must for responsive governance. The "user-friendly formats" should include APIs for researchers and startups to build applications on top.

We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.

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