The National Statistical Office (NSO) is the nodal statistical agency of the Government of India, functioning as an institution under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). It was created in 2019 by merging the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). This merger was intended to improve coordination, enhance data quality, and streamline the statistical system by bringing data collection (NSSO) and compilation (CSO) under a single umbrella.
The NSO is responsible for the collection, compilation, analysis, and dissemination of official statistics at the national level. Its mechanism involves conducting large-scale sample surveys on socio-economic indicators like employment, consumption, and health. It also compiles National Accounts Statistics, including the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and releases key macroeconomic indicators such as the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The NSO is headed by the Chief Statistician of India (CSI), who also serves as the Secretary to the Government of India in MoSPI.
The NSO connects directly to the National Statistical Commission (NSC), which was constituted in 2006 to evolve policies and standards in statistical matters. The NSO's creation in 2019 replaced the previous structure where the CSO, established in 1951, and the NSSO, established in 1950, operated separately. The merger aimed to address issues of fragmentation and overlap, creating a more integrated and modernized statistical system.