Question

Who is responsible for measuring the GDP in India?
A)State government
B)Central government
C)World Bank with the help of Central government
D)Central government with the help of State government and union territories

Answer 1

Hint: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the sum total of all goods and services produced within the country in a given period of time. The GDP indicates the health of the economy of the country .

Complete Answer: There are various methods available to calculate the GDP.
1.The expenditure method calculates GDP as the sum total of consumption of final goods and services, investments, government purchases and net exports.
2.The income method calculates GDP as the sum total of wages, interest, profits and rents
3.The output method calculates GDP as the sum of the monetary or market value of all the goods and services produced within the borders of the country.
In India the entire responsibility of calculating the GDP is with the Central Statistics Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Program. Though the Central Statistics Office coordinates with various federal and state government agencies and departments to collect and compile the data required to calculate the GDP ,it is the Central Statistics Office that finally uses the data and computes the GDP. India's GDP is calculated with two different methods, one is GDP at factor cost, and the other is GDP at market prices. GDP at factor cost is calculated using data across eight industries which include agriculture, forestry, fishing ,mining and quarrying, manufacturing , electricity, gas and water supply , construction etc. Since some of these are state subjects, the state has data on them which is used by the Central Statistics office to arrive at GDP numbers.

Therefore option (D ) is correct. The Central Government with the help of State and Union territories calculate the GDP.

Note: GDP is not to be confused with GNP which is the Gross National Product. While GDP calculates only production that takes place within domestic territory of India, GNP calculates production by Indian citizens both within domestic territory and abroad.