ET BureauLast Updated: Jun 04, 2026, 12:34:00 AM IST

Synopsis

New uniform guidelines for estimating district domestic product have been released by the statistics ministry, aiming for standardized indicators and bottom-up data collection. This move, aligning with the revised 2022-23 national GDP base year, will enhance decentralized planning and evidence-based policy formulation across all key economic sectors at the district level.

New Delhi: The statistics ministry on Wednesday released uniform guidelines for estimating district domestic product (DDP), introducing standardised indicators, sector-specific estimation methodologies, and a greater focus on bottom-up data collection under the revised 2022-23 base year.

The guidelines recommend using goods and services tax (GST) collections to estimate economic activity in trade, hotels, and restaurants; Annual Survey of Industries data for organised manufacturing, Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises for informal sector activities and the RBI banking statistics for financial services.

Earlier this year, the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) revised the national gross domestic product base year to 2022-23 from 2011-12.

"The availability of reliable and comparable DDP estimates is expected to support decentralised planning, evidence-based policy formulation, regional development analysis and informed decision-making at the district levels," the ministry said in a statement The guidelines provide a framework for covering all major sectors of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, financial services, public administration, and other services.