In a first for India, the government plans to develop and release specialized statistical reports for 47 cities with more than a million inhabitants, covering two key indicators: labor force participation and the state of businesses.
Led by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI), the initiative aims to make detailed urban data more readily available and provide a stronger evidence base for urban policy and planning.
The proposal comes at a time when the country is experiencing rapid urbanisation, with cities increasingly driving economic growth, job creation and structural transformation. Despite this, official city-level statistics remain limited and limit evidence-based urban policy and planning, MoSPI said in a statement.
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A city-level statistical report would address this gap. These reports will be based on existing data from the Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) and the Annual Survey of Enterprises in the Unincorporated Sector (ASUSE), which already allow for statistically robust city-level estimates.
MosPI has proposed two annual thematic reports on Indian cities. The first will present the employment profile of more than a million cities and provide key labor market indicators such as the labor force participation rate, the working population ratio and the unemployment rate. The second will present a city-level profile of unregistered businesses, capturing the scale, structure, employment and economic performance of the city’s informal sector.
The proposed development of city-level statistical reports represents an important step in aligning India’s statistical system with the realities of a rapidly urbanizing economy. By focusing more sharply on cities, this initiative seeks to bridge critical data gaps and support informed decision-making at all levels of government.
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Reliable city-level data will support targeted interventions on employment and business development, contribute to the development of city-level gross domestic product (GDP) estimates and improve understanding of urban labor markets and the unregistered sector, MoSPI said. It will also facilitate academic research and contribute to informed public discourse, the statement added.
Reports will be prepared annually and published through official platforms in the public domain. Outputs will be presented in user-friendly formats, including analytical narratives, tabular datasets and summaries, to ensure accessibility to policy makers, researchers and the general public.
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MoSPI has issued a consultation document seeking stakeholder views on the proposed framework, including the adequacy of coverage, relevance and comprehensiveness of the proposed indicators and the need for further disaggregation such as gender, sector or enterprise characteristics, consistent with data available in the Periodic Labor Force Survey and the Annual Survey of Unregistered Sector Enterprises.
Suggestions were also sought on methodological aspects, including ways to improve the reliability and comparability of estimates, and on dissemination formats, potential use cases in policy formulation, research and planning, and any other aspects relevant to the proposed initiative.
Based on the feedback received, the framework and indicators will be further refined, MoSPI said.
