The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the formation of an Expert Committee on Benchmarking its Statistics, to be led by Deputy Governor Michael Debabrata Patra. The committee, established with the aim of aligning the RBI’s statistical dissemination with global standards and best practices, will submit its report by the end of November 2024.
The 10-member committee is tasked with benchmarking the statistics regularly disseminated by the RBI against international standards, assessing the quality of other regularly released data where such benchmarks are absent, particularly in sectors of national importance, and providing guidance on potential areas for data refinement.
Key members of the committee include Muneesh Kapur, Executive Director, and OP Mall, Executive Director, who has been appointed as the convenor. Other notable members include RB Barman, Former Chairman of the National Statistical Commission; Sonalde Desai from the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the University of Maryland, USA; Partha Ray, Director of the National Institute of Bank Management, Pune; and Bimal Roy, Former Chairman of the National Statistical Commission and Former Director of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.
International experts Paul Schreyer, Former Chief Statistician at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and Bruno Tissot, Head of Statistics and Research Support at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), will also contribute to the committee’s efforts.
The formation of this committee underscores the RBI’s commitment to enhancing the quality and reliability of its statistical outputs, ensuring that they meet the highest global standards. The recommendations from this expert panel are expected to significantly refine and improve the scope and quality of data released by the central bank.
