Big data is key to policy decisions: Chief Economic Advisor

“The Economic Survey 2016-17 has been able to utilise big data for aggregating trends related to movement of people and goods in the country. These trends have contributed to key policy suggestions in themes like domestic migration, trade, economy, universal basic income etc.,” Subramanian said. 

Speaking at the ‘CUTS Thought Leadership Lecture’ organised by Consumer Unity and Trust Society in partnership with University of Rajasthan, he said India has caught up and surpassed China in terms of internal trade to GDP ratio, a significant achievement for which India is not always acknowledged. Subramanian noted it is still too early to ascertain the impact of demonetisation on the economy. 

“The formal GDP numbers do not fully capture the impact on informal economy and some more time is needed to assess impact of demonetisation on the economy,” he said. He gave three parameters on which demonetisation can probably be measured - the increase in number and amount of tax payers, the growth of GDP and the rapid progression of the digital economy.