The Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of the Capacity Development scheme till March 31, 2026 or till further review, whichever is earlier, subject to the adherence to Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) recommendations and the financial ceilings, etc.

The outlay approved for the continuation of the scheme during 15th Finance Commission cycle is Rs 3,179 crore.

Capacity Development scheme

• The Capacity Development scheme is an ongoing Central Sector Scheme of the ministry of statistics & programme implementation (MoSPI) with an overall objective to augment infrastructural, technical as well as manpower resources for enabling availability of credible and timely official statistics.

• The umbrella scheme comprises Capacity Development (Main) scheme and two sub schemes — Support for Statistical Strengthening (SSS) and Economic Census (EC). 

• The Support for Statistical Strengthening (SSS) aims to improve the statistical capacity and operations of state statistical systems for collecting, compiling and disseminating reliable official statistics.

• The Economic Census conducted periodically gives the complete count of all non-farm economic establishments located within the geographical boundary of India. Economic Census provides disaggregated information on various operational and structural variables of all such establishments of the country. Its database provides valuable inputs for policy makers to design economic development and employment generation related strategies in states/districts.

• The umbrella scheme encompasses all statistical and data management activities of the ministry and plays a crucial role in generation and maintenance of the official statistical system of the country.

• The large-scale sample surveys undertaken by the ministry cover important aspects of the economy and provide data inputs for policy framing of the government. Besides facilitating evidence-based decision making, these surveys are also utilised by the government for policy planning.

• In addition to the regular ongoing activities under the Capacity Development scheme, the ministry is to continue the following newly initiated surveys — Annual Survey of Services Sector Enterprises (ASSSE), Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) and Time Use Survey (TUS). 

• ASSSE and ASUSE will bridge the existing data gap for information required in the services sector and unincorporated sector, which contributes to a major share in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

• The TUS provides data on activities of individuals, particularly time disposition of women, which are not presently reflected in the country’s GDP. 

Other major activities to be undertaken under the scheme include:

• Household Consumer Expenditure Survey (HCES)/Survey on Consumer Basket (SCB)

• Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey (CAMS) to be conducted on households every year

• Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)

• Consumer Price Survey (CPI)-Rural/Urban/Combined

• Urban Frame Survey (UFS)

• International Comparison of Prices (ICP)

• Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) and other related ongoing regular activities for strengthening the survey capabilities of National Sample Surveys.

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