{ "name": "Sarani: India's policy data catalogue, by Public Policy India and STRIDE", "updated": "October 2026", "note": "Entries are updated as of October 2026. Details shift, so always verify with the source.", "licence": "Descriptive text free to reuse with attribution to Public Policy India and STRIDE. Rights in the underlying data rest with each publisher.", "count": 237, "sources": [ { "id": "census-india", "name": "Census of India", "short_name": "censusindia.gov.in", "publisher": "Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, MHA", "url": "https://censusindia.gov.in/census.website/en", "domains": [ "Population & Census" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Sub-district", "Village/Ward" ], "time_span": "1872–2011 (2027 round in field)", "update_cadence": "Decennial", "formats": [ "XLSX", "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The full decadal enumeration of every person and household in India, published as an enormous library of tables: A-series (population totals), B-series (economic activity), C-series (social and cultural), D-series (migration), F-series (fertility), plus the Primary Census Abstract down to village and ward.", "use_it_for": "The denominator for almost everything else. Any per-capita rate, any district-level normalisation, any sampling frame, any constituency delimitation argument ultimately traces back here.", "caveats": "The most recent completed round is 2011. Fifteen years of drift means Census-based denominators now materially understate urban populations and misstate district shares. Say which year you used and adjust for known growth.", "latest_status": "Census 2011 remains the latest published count. Census 2027 houselisting ran from April to September 2026 and population enumeration, including caste, is set for February 2027. The Union Cabinet approved an outlay of Rs 11,718.24 crore in December 2025.", "tags": [ "census", "population", "denominator", "2027", "caste enumeration" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "census-2027", "name": "Census 2027 Portal and Self-Enumeration", "short_name": "Census 2027", "publisher": "Office of the Registrar General of India", "url": "https://census.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Population & Census" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2026–2027", "update_cadence": "One-off (decennial round)", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The operational portal for India's sixteenth census: gazette notifications, the houselisting schedule, state-wise field windows, the self-enumeration portal and the mobile-app based collection design.", "use_it_for": "Track when your state was enumerated, read the actual questionnaire before you speculate about what the census will and will not measure, and prepare for the 2027 data release cycle.", "caveats": "Results will not appear for months after enumeration, and provisional totals come well before detailed tables. Treat any figure said to come from Census 2027 before an official release as unverified.", "latest_status": "Phase I houselisting ran from 1 April to 30 September 2026, each state taking a 30-day window with an optional 15-day self-enumeration period before it. Phase II population enumeration, which includes caste, is set for February 2027 with a reference date of 1 March 2027. In Ladakh and snow-bound parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand it runs in September 2026 with a reference date of 1 October 2026.", "tags": [ "census 2027", "self-enumeration", "houselisting" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "srs", "name": "Sample Registration System (SRS)", "short_name": "SRS Bulletins", "publisher": "Office of the Registrar General of India", "url": "https://censusindia.gov.in/census.website/node/303", "domains": [ "Population & Census", "Health & Nutrition" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1971–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's continuous demographic survey. The source of official birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality, maternal mortality ratio, sex ratio at birth and life expectancy estimates, based on dual-record verification in a large sample of villages and urban blocks.", "use_it_for": "If you need an official IMR or MMR figure for a state, this is the number a ministry will accept. NFHS gives you correlates; SRS gives you the vital rate.", "caveats": "State estimates only, no districts. MMR is published for a rolling three-year window and only for larger states, and its release lags several years.", "latest_status": "Statistical reports and MMR special bulletins continue to be issued by ORGI. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "IMR", "MMR", "fertility", "life expectancy", "vital statistics" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "crs", "name": "Civil Registration System (CRS) Vital Statistics", "short_name": "CRS", "publisher": "Office of the Registrar General of India", "url": "https://crsorgi.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Population & Census" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "1970s–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Registered births and deaths as recorded by state registrars, reported in the annual Vital Statistics of India Based on the Civil Registration System, along with medically certified cause of death.", "use_it_for": "Registration completeness is itself a governance indicator. Gaps between CRS and SRS estimates for the same state are a usable measure of administrative capacity.", "caveats": "Completeness varies sharply by state and was disrupted during 2020 and 2021. Excess-mortality claims built on CRS need explicit treatment of registration coverage.", "latest_status": "Annual reports continue with a two-to-three year publication lag. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "births", "deaths", "registration", "cause of death" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "mospi", "name": "Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation", "short_name": "MoSPI", "publisher": "MoSPI, Government of India", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Population & Census", "Economy & Public Finance", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1950–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The apex node of India's statistical system. Publishes national accounts, the CPI and IIP, the Periodic Labour Force Survey, the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, the Annual Survey of Industries, the Time Use Survey and the entire National Sample Survey programme.", "use_it_for": "Start every macro question here. Press notes carry the headline; the detailed reports carry the tables you will actually cite; NADA carries the unit records.", "caveats": "Navigation is genuinely poor. Reports live under several inconsistent paths, and the same survey may appear under Publications, Press Releases and eSankhyiki with different vintages.", "latest_status": "2026 brought the largest overhaul in a decade. GDP and the Index of Industrial Production moved to a 2022-23 base and the Consumer Price Index to 2024=100, a Producer Price Index was published for the first time, and the first official household income survey went to field. Surveys now use computer assisted interviewing, and data reaches the public through eSankhyiki, the revamped microdata portal and the GoIStats app.", "tags": [ "NSSO", "NSO", "official statistics", "national accounts" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "esankhyiki", "name": "eSankhyiki Portal", "short_name": "eSankhyiki", "publisher": "MoSPI", "url": "https://esankhyiki.mospi.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Work & Livelihoods", "Population & Census" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Varies by product", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "API/JSON", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "MoSPI's modernised delivery layer, split into a Data Catalogue of machine-readable official series and a Macro Indicators module that lets you filter, chart and download national accounts, price indices, industrial production and labour indicators without wrestling with PDF annexures.", "use_it_for": "The fastest legitimate route to a clean official time series. Use it instead of retyping numbers out of a press note.", "caveats": "Coverage is still narrower than the underlying report library. Anything not yet migrated still lives on the older mospi.gov.in tree.", "latest_status": "MoSPI's main dissemination platform, with time series, custom downloads and APIs for national accounts, prices, industrial production and labour data. It sits alongside the GoIStats mobile app, launched in June 2025, and a metadata portal built on the National Metadata Structure. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "macro indicators", "time series", "GDP", "CPI", "IIP" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "microdata-nada", "name": "National Data Archive (microdata.gov.in)", "short_name": "NADA", "publisher": "MoSPI / National Statistical Office", "url": "https://microdata.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research", "Work & Livelihoods", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "Household/Individual" ], "time_span": "1950s–present", "update_cadence": "Per survey round", "formats": [ "CSV", "Stata/SPSS", "PDF" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Unit-level records and full metadata for over 180 NSS surveys and censuses, catalogued using the IHSN's NADA software: questionnaires, instruction manuals, sample design notes, data dictionaries and the microdata itself.", "use_it_for": "Where serious analysis starts. Anything requiring your own tabulation, custom groupings, or subgroup estimates the published report does not give you.", "caveats": "Read the sample design note before weighting. Multipliers, first-stage units and comparability breaks between rounds are where most published errors come from.", "latest_status": "Revamped in 2026 and now holding anonymised unit-level data from about 189 surveys and censuses, including HCES 2022-23 and 2023-24 and the redesigned PLFS rounds. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "microdata", "unit level", "NSS", "weights", "survey design" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "plfs", "name": "Periodic Labour Force Survey", "short_name": "PLFS", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/periodic-labour-force-survey-plfs", "domains": [ "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2017-18–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly, quarterly and annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's official employment statistics. Reports labour force participation, worker population ratio, unemployment, employment status and industry of work under both Usual Status and Current Weekly Status frameworks.", "use_it_for": "The only defensible official source for an unemployment number. For youth work, the 15-29 and 15-24 age cuts and the education-wise unemployment tables are the high-value tables.", "caveats": "Usual Status and Current Weekly Status are different measures and are not interchangeable: a female LFPR of 41.7 per cent (Usual Status, annual) and 32.7 per cent (CWS, monthly) can both be correct. Always name the status concept and the reference period. Pre-2017 comparisons with NSS Employment-Unemployment rounds require care.", "latest_status": "The August 2026 monthly bulletin, released on 15 September 2026 and the seventeenth in the series, puts labour force participation for ages 15 and above at 55.6 per cent, female participation at 34.8 per cent and unemployment at 5.0 per cent (urban 6.8, rural 4.1), all on the Current Weekly Status basis. Monthly bulletins come out on the 15th. The annual report for calendar year 2026, with unit-level data, is scheduled for 25 March 2027.", "tags": [ "unemployment", "LFPR", "employment", "youth unemployment", "labour" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "hces", "name": "Household Consumption Expenditure Survey", "short_name": "HCES", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/themes/product/71-household-consumption-expenditure-survey-hces", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1972-73–2023-24", "update_cadence": "Roughly quinquennial; two back-to-back recent rounds", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Household spending on every major item group, yielding Monthly Per Capita Expenditure by state, sector and fractile class. The basis for CPI weights, poverty and inequality analysis, and the consumption side of GDP rebasing.", "use_it_for": "Distributional work. Fractile tables let you say what happened to the bottom decile rather than to the average.", "caveats": "Reference-period design changed to Modified Mixed Recall Period, so direct comparison with the 2011-12 round is contested. The 2023-24 round publishes two MPCE series, with and without imputed value of items received free through welfare schemes; state which one you used.", "latest_status": "HCES 2023-24 factsheet released December 2024 covering 2,61,953 households; detailed report and unit-level data since released. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "MPCE", "consumption", "poverty", "inequality", "CPI weights" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "asi", "name": "Annual Survey of Industries", "short_name": "ASI", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/annual-survey-industries", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "1959–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The census-cum-sample survey of registered factories under the Factories Act: output, value added, fixed capital, employment, wages and inputs by NIC industry code and state.", "use_it_for": "Formal manufacturing questions. Factory-level microdata supports state-comparative work on industrial policy, labour intensity and productivity.", "caveats": "Registered factories only. It tells you nothing about the unorganised manufacturing that employs the large majority of India's manufacturing workers.", "latest_status": "Results for 2024-25 were scheduled for 29 September 2026 in the MoSPI release calendar. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "manufacturing", "factories", "industry", "productivity", "wages" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "asuse", "name": "Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises", "short_name": "ASUSE", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Work & Livelihoods", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2021-22–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The counterpart to ASI for the unincorporated non-agricultural sector: manufacturing, trade and other services enterprises outside company registration, covering enterprise counts, workers, gross value added and use of internet and accounting software.", "use_it_for": "The nearest official read on the informal enterprise economy, which is where most Indian non-farm work actually happens.", "caveats": "A young series. Level comparisons with the older NSS unincorporated enterprise surveys need caution.", "latest_status": "Successive annual rounds published since 2021-22. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "informal sector", "MSME", "enterprises", "unorganised" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "tus", "name": "Time Use Survey", "short_name": "TUS", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Gender & Social Inclusion", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1998-99, 2019, 2024", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "How Indians spend a 24-hour day, coded to international time-use classifications: paid work, unpaid domestic services, unpaid caregiving, learning, socialising, self-care.", "use_it_for": "The single most useful dataset for making the unpaid care economy visible in a policy argument. It quantifies what labour force surveys structurally cannot see.", "caveats": "Diary recall over a single day, so individual variance is high. Read at aggregate level, not as a personal budget.", "latest_status": "A 2024 round has been conducted and published, with the 2019 round as the main comparison point. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "unpaid care", "time use", "gender", "domestic work" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "mospi-youth", "name": "Youth in India and Women and Men in India", "short_name": "MoSPI Thematic Compendia", "publisher": "MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/publication-reports", "domains": [ "Youth & Society", "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "Periodic editions", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Two official compendia that pull youth-disaggregated and sex-disaggregated indicators out of the census, SRS, NFHS, PLFS, UDISE+ and AISHE into single reference volumes covering demography, education, work, health and participation.", "use_it_for": "The fastest way to assemble a credible youth or gender profile of India without re-deriving every indicator from source. Every table cites its origin, so you can go upstream when a reviewer pushes.", "caveats": "Compiled from sources of different vintages. Check the note under each table before quoting a year.", "latest_status": "Editions issued periodically; the youth volume projects the 15-29 cohort forward to 2036. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "youth", "gender", "demographic dividend", "compendium" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "population-projections", "name": "Population Projections for India and States 2011–2036", "short_name": "NCP Projections", "publisher": "National Commission on Population, MoHFW", "url": "https://mohfw.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Population & Census" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2011–2036", "update_cadence": "One-off with revisions", "formats": [ "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The official technical group projections of population by age, sex, state and urban-rural split to 2036, with associated fertility, mortality and migration assumptions spelled out.", "use_it_for": "The only defensible source for a post-2011 denominator. Use it whenever you need a 2026 or 2031 population figure and someone will check your working.", "caveats": "Projections, not counts. The assumptions were set before the 2027 census and before recent fertility declines; expect revision once Census 2027 lands.", "latest_status": "Remains the standard reference pending Census 2027 results. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "projections", "2036", "denominator", "age structure", "urbanisation" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "eshram", "name": "e-Shram National Database of Unorganised Workers", "short_name": "e-Shram", "publisher": "Ministry of Labour and Employment", "url": "https://eshram.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2021–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open (dashboard)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A registration database of unorganised workers, with public dashboards showing registrations by state, district, age, gender, occupation and social category. Now positioned as a one-stop convergence layer across welfare schemes.", "use_it_for": "A live, self-reported map of who identifies as an unorganised worker and where. Useful for outreach targeting and for arguing about gaps between registration and entitlement.", "caveats": "A registration count, not a census of informal workers. Registration is driven by scheme incentives, so state totals reflect administrative push as much as underlying workforce.", "latest_status": "Continues to expand with scheme integrations; totals run into tens of crores of registrations. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "informal workers", "gig workers", "social security", "registration" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "epfo", "name": "EPFO Payroll and Annual Reports", "short_name": "EPFO", "publisher": "Employees' Provident Fund Organisation", "url": "https://www.epfindia.gov.in/site_en/Estimate_of_Payroll.php", "domains": [ "Work & Livelihoods", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2017-18–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Monthly net payroll additions by age band, gender and state, plus exits and re-joinings, drawn from EPF subscriber records.", "use_it_for": "A monthly proxy for formalisation. The 18-25 band is the closest thing India has to a high-frequency indicator of young people entering formal jobs.", "caveats": "Measures formal-sector account activity, not net job creation. Reclassification, compliance drives and multiple accounts all move the number. Provisional figures are revised substantially.", "latest_status": "Monthly payroll releases continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "payroll", "formalisation", "provident fund", "jobs" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "labour-bureau", "name": "Labour Bureau", "short_name": "Labour Bureau", "publisher": "Ministry of Labour and Employment", "url": "https://labourbureau.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Work & Livelihoods", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Centre-level" ], "time_span": "1946–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly to annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers and Agricultural and Rural Labourers, wage rate indices, and the all-India quarterly establishment-based employment surveys covering nine major sectors.", "use_it_for": "CPI-IW is the index that drives dearness allowance and many wage settlements, so it matters for any compensation or minimum-wage argument.", "caveats": "The establishment surveys cover units with ten or more workers in selected sectors. They are not a labour force survey and should not be read as one.", "latest_status": "AQEES rounds and CPI-IW series continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "CPI-IW", "wages", "dearness allowance", "establishment survey" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ncs", "name": "National Career Service Portal", "short_name": "NCS", "publisher": "Ministry of Labour and Employment", "url": "https://www.ncs.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Work & Livelihoods", "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2015–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The government's job exchange and career portal, with public dashboards on vacancies mobilised, active jobseekers, employer registrations and placements by state and sector.", "use_it_for": "A read on formal vacancy demand by state and occupation family, and on how much of it flows through public channels at all.", "caveats": "Portal activity, not the labour market. Vacancy counts include repeat and bulk postings.", "latest_status": "Dashboards updated continuously. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "vacancies", "jobseekers", "employment exchange", "careers" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "mgnrega", "name": "MGNREGA Public Data Portal (NREGASoft)", "short_name": "MGNREGA", "publisher": "Ministry of Rural Development", "url": "https://nrega.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Work & Livelihoods", "Agriculture & Rural" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Block", "Panchayat", "Household" ], "time_span": "2006–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Possibly the deepest administrative dataset any Indian ministry publishes: person-days generated, households demanding and receiving work, wage payment delays, works completed, muster rolls and social audit findings, drilling from national totals to individual panchayats and job cards.", "use_it_for": "Rural distress monitoring, wage-payment accountability, panchayat-level targeting, and a natural experiment lab for a huge body of applied research.", "caveats": "Demand is measured as recorded demand, which is suppressed where registration is rationed. Person-days respond to fund releases as much as to need. Data structure changes across financial years.", "latest_status": "Live daily; historical financial years remain queryable. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "MGNREGA", "rural employment", "wages", "person-days", "panchayat" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "dgt-ncvt", "name": "NCVT MIS and Skill India Digital", "short_name": "NCVT MIS", "publisher": "Directorate General of Training, MSDE", "url": "https://dgt.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Institution" ], "time_span": "2010s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The management information system for Industrial Training Institutes: institute directory, trade-wise seats, admissions, trainee records, apprenticeship data and assessment results.", "use_it_for": "The only granular view of India's vocational training estate. Essential for anything about NEP 2020's vocational exposure targets or ITI capacity utilisation.", "caveats": "Data quality varies by state. Seat and admission figures are frequently out of step with ground reality in smaller trades.", "latest_status": "The old NCVT MIS address no longer opens at its home page, so this entry points to the Directorate General of Training, which links to the current ITI and apprenticeship systems. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "ITI", "vocational", "apprenticeship", "skilling", "NEP" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nsdc", "name": "National Skill Development Corporation", "short_name": "NSDC", "publisher": "NSDC / MSDE", "url": "https://nsdcindia.org/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2010–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Skill gap studies by state and sector, training partner and centre directories, PMKVY enrolment, certification and placement dashboards, and the National Occupational Standards library.", "use_it_for": "Sector skill-gap reports are the standard citation for demand-side skilling arguments even where the underlying methodology deserves scrutiny.", "caveats": "Placement figures are self-reported by training partners and have been repeatedly questioned in audits. Treat them as claims, not measurements.", "latest_status": "PMKVY 4.0 reporting continues. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "skilling", "PMKVY", "placement", "occupational standards" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "rbi-dbie", "name": "Database on Indian Economy", "short_name": "RBI DBIE", "publisher": "Reserve Bank of India", "url": "https://data.rbi.org.in/DBIE/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Bank branch" ], "time_span": "1950s–present", "update_cadence": "Weekly to annual", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "API/JSON", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The RBI's full statistical warehouse: money and banking, prices, national income, public finance, external sector, financial markets, corporate finance and the Basic Statistical Returns on bank credit and deposits down to district and population-group level.", "use_it_for": "Anything monetary, financial or banking. The BSR tables in particular let you show credit-deposit ratios by district, which is one of the sharper measures of regional financial exclusion.", "caveats": "Series definitions and reporting formats change over the decades. Read the notes on breaks before drawing a fifty-year line.", "latest_status": "Redesigned DBIE interface with improved download and API access. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "RBI", "banking", "credit", "monetary policy", "BSR" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "rbi-publications", "name": "RBI Statistical Publications and State Finances Study", "short_name": "RBI Reports", "publisher": "Reserve Bank of India", "url": "https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/AnnualPublications.aspx", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1937–present", "update_cadence": "Annual and periodic", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy, the Handbook of Statistics on Indian States, State Finances: A Study of Budgets, the Report on Trend and Progress of Banking, and the Financial Stability Report.", "use_it_for": "State Finances is indispensable for fiscal federalism work: it standardises every state budget onto a common format so you can actually compare Bihar with Karnataka.", "caveats": "State budget data is on a budget-estimate, revised-estimate and actuals basis in the same table. Mixing them is the most common error in state fiscal analysis.", "latest_status": "Annual editions continue; the Handbook on Indian States is updated each year. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "state finances", "fiscal deficit", "handbook", "banking trends" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "union-budget", "name": "Union Budget of India", "short_name": "indiabudget.gov.in", "publisher": "Ministry of Finance", "url": "https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "Ministry", "Scheme" ], "time_span": "1947–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Every budget document in machine-readable form where available: Demand for Grants, Expenditure Profile, Expenditure Budget, Receipt Budget, Statement of Revenue Impact of Tax Incentives, the Gender Budget Statement, the Child Budget Statement, the SC and ST welfare allocation statements, and the Finance Bill.", "use_it_for": "Scheme-wise allocations are in the Expenditure Profile, not the speech. The Gender Budget Statement (Part A and Part B) is the single most-used document in Indian gender-budgeting work.", "caveats": "Budget Estimate, Revised Estimate and Actuals are three different numbers presented in adjacent columns, and comparing across them is the most common error in Indian budget reporting. Actuals lag by roughly two years. Since February 2026 there is a further complication: with national accounts rebased to 2022-23, any ratio expressed against GDP, including fiscal deficit and debt to GDP, shifts even when the rupee amount does not.", "latest_status": "The Union Budget 2026-27 was presented on 1 February 2026, with the Sixteenth Finance Commission report tabled alongside it. The next budget is due on 1 February 2027 by convention. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "budget", "allocations", "gender budget", "demand for grants", "expenditure" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "economic-survey", "name": "Economic Survey of India", "short_name": "Economic Survey", "publisher": "Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance", "url": "https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/economicsurvey/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1950-51–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The government's annual analytical review of the economy, with a large statistical appendix covering national income, prices, external sector, agriculture, industry, services, social infrastructure and climate.", "use_it_for": "The statistical appendix is the underrated part: consistent, downloadable, government-endorsed time series that will not be contested in a review meeting.", "caveats": "It is the Finance Ministry's own analytical framing, published the day before the Budget, so read it as argument as well as evidence. Growth projections from 2026 onward rest on the new 2022-23 base national accounts and are not comparable with projections in older editions.", "latest_status": "Published each year immediately before the Union Budget. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "economic survey", "statistical appendix", "macro", "CEA" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "openbudgets", "name": "Open Budgets India", "short_name": "OBI", "publisher": "Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability and partners", "url": "https://openbudgetsindia.org/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Urban local body" ], "time_span": "Multi-year", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Union, state and municipal budget documents converted from PDF into structured, downloadable, machine-readable datasets, with budget explainers and visualisations layered on top.", "use_it_for": "Saves days of manual extraction. If you need five states' budget heads in one spreadsheet, this is where to start rather than the state finance department websites.", "caveats": "Coverage varies by state and year, and municipal coverage is partial. Verify unusual figures against the original state budget PDF.", "latest_status": "Continues as India's principal open budget data effort. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "budget data", "machine readable", "state budgets", "municipal budgets" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "accountability-initiative", "name": "Accountability Initiative Budget Briefs", "short_name": "AI Budget Briefs", "publisher": "Centre for Policy Research / Accountability Initiative", "url": "https://accountabilityindia.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Education & Skills", "Health & Nutrition" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2010–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Scheme-by-scheme budget briefs tracing allocations, releases, expenditure and physical outputs for major social sector programmes: Samagra Shiksha, National Health Mission, ICDS and Saksham Anganwadi, PM POSHAN, Swachh Bharat, Jal Jeevan Mission, MGNREGA.", "use_it_for": "The clearest available reconciliation of what was allocated against what was actually spent and delivered. Very high value for any social-sector proposal that needs a fiscal spine.", "caveats": "Briefs reflect data available at time of writing; releases and expenditure are revised later in the year.", "latest_status": "New editions issued each budget cycle. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "budget briefs", "scheme spending", "social sector", "PAISA" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "pfms", "name": "Public Financial Management System", "short_name": "PFMS", "publisher": "Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance", "url": "https://pfms.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Agency" ], "time_span": "2016–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open (dashboards)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The transaction backbone for central scheme fund flow and direct benefit transfer, with public dashboards on releases, agency-wise balances and DBT payments by scheme and state.", "use_it_for": "Fund-flow bottleneck analysis. It shows where money stalls between the Union release and the last-mile agency.", "caveats": "Dashboards are operational rather than analytical. Definitions of release, transfer and expenditure differ across modules.", "latest_status": "Live; integrated with the DBT Bharat portal. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "fund flow", "DBT", "treasury", "scheme releases" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "dbt-bharat", "name": "DBT Bharat", "short_name": "DBT Bharat", "publisher": "Direct Benefit Transfer Mission, Cabinet Secretariat", "url": "https://dbtbharat.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Scheme" ], "time_span": "2013–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Scheme-wise and state-wise direct benefit transfer volumes, beneficiary counts and claimed efficiency gains across several hundred central schemes.", "use_it_for": "Useful for tracing the reach of cash and in-kind transfer programmes and for comparing beneficiary counts against eligible-population estimates.", "caveats": "Claimed savings from de-duplication are contested in the academic literature. Report them as government estimates, not as findings.", "latest_status": "Live dashboards. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "DBT", "cash transfers", "beneficiaries", "subsidy" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "cag", "name": "Comptroller and Auditor General of India Audit Reports", "short_name": "CAG", "publisher": "Comptroller and Auditor General of India", "url": "https://cag.gov.in/en/audit-report", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Constitutional body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Department", "Scheme" ], "time_span": "1950s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Every audit report laid before Parliament and state legislatures: financial audits, compliance audits and performance audits of ministries, states, PSUs and centrally sponsored schemes, plus State Finances Audit Reports.", "use_it_for": "Performance audits are the most rigorous public documentation of implementation failure that exists in India. When you need evidence that a programme did not work as designed, start here rather than with journalism.", "caveats": "Audit findings are point-in-time and adversarial by design. Departments file replies; a fair account cites both.", "latest_status": "Reports continue to be tabled and published; search by state, year and sector. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "audit", "performance audit", "accountability", "implementation" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "finance-commission", "name": "Finance Commission Reports and Recommendations", "short_name": "Finance Commission", "publisher": "Finance Commission of India", "url": "https://fincomindia.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Constitutional body", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1952–present", "update_cadence": "Roughly every five years", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Reports of every Finance Commission, with the underlying devolution formulae, horizontal distribution criteria, grant recommendations for local bodies and disaster response, and the commissioned research studies and state memoranda.", "use_it_for": "The foundational documents of Indian fiscal federalism. Any argument about vertical or horizontal devolution has to engage with the criteria and weights actually used.", "caveats": "Recommendations and government action are different things; the Explanatory Memorandum tabled with the report says what was accepted. The divisible pool excludes cesses and surcharges, so the 41 per cent share applies to a smaller base than gross central tax revenue.", "latest_status": "The Sixteenth Finance Commission, chaired by Arvind Panagariya, covers 2026-27 to 2030-31. Its report went to the President on 17 November 2025 and was tabled with the Union Budget on 1 February 2026. It keeps the states' share at 41 per cent and adds a state's contribution to GDP as a new criterion for dividing funds among states. The full report is on indiabudget.gov.in.", "tags": [ "devolution", "fiscal federalism", "tax sharing", "grants", "16th FC" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "gst", "name": "GST Statistics and GSTN Analytics", "short_name": "GST", "publisher": "Goods and Services Tax Network / CBIC", "url": "https://www.gst.gov.in/download/gststatistics", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2017–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Monthly gross and net GST collections by state and by head (CGST, SGST, IGST, cess), taxpayer registration counts, return filing compliance and e-way bill volumes.", "use_it_for": "The closest thing India has to a monthly indicator of formal economic activity by state. E-way bill volumes are a useful high-frequency proxy for goods movement.", "caveats": "Collections reflect the previous month's transactions and are sensitive to compliance drives and rate changes. Do not read month-on-month movement as real growth.", "latest_status": "Monthly collection releases continue; PIB issues a monthly summary. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "GST", "tax collections", "e-way bill", "compliance" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "dgcis", "name": "Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics", "short_name": "DGCI&S", "publisher": "Ministry of Commerce and Industry", "url": "https://www.dgciskol.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Trade & Industry" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "Port", "Commodity" ], "time_span": "1950s–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open / Paid for detail", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "India's official merchandise trade statistics: exports and imports at HS commodity code level by country and port, with monthly quick estimates and detailed annual volumes.", "use_it_for": "Any trade-policy question, tariff analysis or export-competitiveness argument at commodity level.", "caveats": "Detailed transaction-level data is a paid product. Free tables are aggregated. Provisional monthly figures are revised.", "latest_status": "Monthly quick estimates published in tandem with Ministry of Commerce press notes. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "exports", "imports", "trade", "HS code", "tariffs" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "commerce-tradestat", "name": "Ministry of Commerce Export Import Data Bank", "short_name": "Tradestat", "publisher": "Department of Commerce", "url": "https://tradestat.commerce.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Trade & Industry", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "Country", "Commodity" ], "time_span": "1996-97–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "A queryable front end to India's trade data allowing country-wise, commodity-wise and country-commodity cross-tabulations from 1996-97 onward.", "use_it_for": "Faster than DGCI&S for standard queries. Good for building bilateral trade profiles for negotiation briefs.", "caveats": "Values are in rupees and US dollars at different exchange bases across the series. Fix your unit before comparing years.", "latest_status": "Updated monthly. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "tradestat", "bilateral trade", "commodity", "export data" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "mca", "name": "Ministry of Corporate Affairs Registry and MCA21", "short_name": "MCA", "publisher": "Ministry of Corporate Affairs", "url": "https://www.mca.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Trade & Industry", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Company" ], "time_span": "Historic–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX", "Web" ], "access": "Partly open, filings paid", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The company and LLP registry, monthly incorporation statistics, and the MCA21 filing repository containing annual returns, financial statements, charges and CSR disclosures for every registered entity.", "use_it_for": "Company incorporation trends by state and sector, CSR spending analysis, and due diligence on partners and grantees.", "caveats": "Individual document downloads are charged. Registered address is often a filing address, so state-wise attribution overstates metros.", "latest_status": "V3 portal migration has changed several access paths. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "companies", "incorporations", "CSR", "registry", "LLP" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "csr-portal", "name": "National CSR Data Portal", "short_name": "CSR Portal", "publisher": "Ministry of Corporate Affairs", "url": "https://www.csr.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Company", "Project" ], "time_span": "2014-15–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Mandatory corporate social responsibility spending under Section 135 of the Companies Act, reported by company, development sector, state, district, project and implementing agency.", "use_it_for": "Directly useful for the impact sector: it shows which companies fund which sectors in which districts, which is the raw material for a serious CSR partnership pipeline.", "caveats": "Reporting quality varies. Sector tagging is coarse and self-assigned, and administrative overheads sit inside project spend.", "latest_status": "Filings continue annually; recent years are the most complete. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "CSR", "corporate philanthropy", "Section 135", "funding" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "niti-ndap", "name": "National Data and Analytics Platform", "short_name": "NDAP", "publisher": "NITI Aayog", "url": "https://ndap.niti.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Health & Nutrition", "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "NITI Aayog's attempt to make government datasets interoperable: several hundred datasets from dozens of ministries, all mapped to a common schema keyed on the Local Government Directory so they can be merged without manual reconciliation.", "use_it_for": "The single biggest time-saver for district-level cross-sectoral analysis. Merging a health dataset to an education dataset on district codes normally costs a day; here it costs a join.", "caveats": "Datasets are standardised copies, not live mirrors. Check the vintage against the originating ministry before citing a current figure.", "latest_status": "Still live under NITI Aayog, with datasets mapped to Local Government Directory codes. NITI issued a fresh tender for the platform's development and operation in 2026, so expect changes to the interface. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "interoperable", "district codes", "LGD", "NITI", "cross-sectoral" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "niti-for-states", "name": "NITI for States", "short_name": "NITI for States", "publisher": "NITI Aayog", "url": "https://www.nitiforstates.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2024–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "A digital knowledge platform for state and district administrators combining a data catalogue, a repository of best practices and policy documents, and sector-wise toolkits across roughly a dozen sectors.", "use_it_for": "Good for finding what another state actually did, with documentation, when you are writing a replication or scale-up case.", "caveats": "Curated by NITI, so the best-practice framing is selective. Verify outcomes independently.", "latest_status": "Expanded through 2025 and 2026 with additional sectors and a district-level layer. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "best practices", "state capacity", "toolkits", "NITI" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "sdg-index", "name": "SDG India Index and Dashboard", "short_name": "SDG India Index", "publisher": "NITI Aayog with MoSPI and UN in India", "url": "https://sdgindiaindex.niti.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Health & Nutrition", "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2018–present", "update_cadence": "Roughly biennial", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's composite index scoring states and union territories against the Sustainable Development Goals using a defined indicator basket, with an accompanying district-level SDG index in several states.", "use_it_for": "The standard reference for state-comparative development scoring in Indian policy documents. Indicator-level scores are more useful than headline ranks.", "caveats": "Indicator baskets change between editions, so rank movement partly reflects methodology change. Compare indicator scores, not ranks, across editions.", "latest_status": "The latest national edition is the SDG India Index 2023-24, released in July 2024. Several states publish their own district-level indices. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "SDG", "state rankings", "composite index", "development" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "mpi", "name": "National Multidimensional Poverty Index", "short_name": "National MPI", "publisher": "NITI Aayog", "url": "https://www.niti.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Gender & Social Inclusion", "Health & Nutrition", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 based", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's official multidimensional poverty measure, built on twelve indicators across health, education and standard of living, using the Alkire-Foster method and NFHS microdata, reported down to district level.", "use_it_for": "The go-to district-level deprivation measure now that India has no current official income-poverty line. Indicator-wise deprivation shares are more actionable than the headline headcount.", "caveats": "It is not an income or consumption poverty measure and cannot be compared with the Tendulkar or Rangarajan lines. Indicators are NFHS-based, so it moves only when NFHS moves.", "latest_status": "Expect a refresh keyed to NFHS-6 (2023-24). Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "MPI", "poverty", "deprivation", "district", "Alkire-Foster" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ceda", "name": "CEDA Data Portal", "short_name": "CEDA", "publisher": "Centre for Economic Data and Analysis, Ashoka University", "url": "https://ceda.ashoka.edu.in/data-portal/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Agriculture & Rural" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "CSV", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Cleaned, harmonised versions of Indian public datasets with visualisation tools, plus explanatory articles on how the underlying statistics are constructed. Includes an accessible Agmarknet mandi-price interface.", "use_it_for": "Excellent when you need a defensible cleaned series fast and do not have time to reconcile raw government files yourself.", "caveats": "Derived data. Cite CEDA for the harmonisation and the original agency for the underlying statistic.", "latest_status": "Actively maintained with new datasets and explainers. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "harmonised data", "Ashoka", "mandi prices", "visualisation" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "dataforindia", "name": "Data For India", "short_name": "Data For India", "publisher": "Data For India", "url": "https://www.dataforindia.com/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Work & Livelihoods", "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "Long series", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Curated long-run charts of India's development indicators with clear methodological notes on how each series was constructed and what it can and cannot support.", "use_it_for": "The best available source of chart-ready, correctly-caveated Indian development series for presentations and teaching.", "caveats": "Curated selection rather than exhaustive coverage.", "latest_status": "Regularly updated. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "charts", "development indicators", "explainers", "long run" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "shrug", "name": "SHRUG: Socioeconomic High-resolution Rural-Urban Geographic Platform", "short_name": "SHRUG", "publisher": "Development Data Lab", "url": "https://www.devdatalab.org/shrug", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research", "Economy & Public Finance", "Geospatial" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "Village/Ward", "Town", "District", "Constituency" ], "time_span": "1990–present", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "CSV", "Stata", "Shapefile" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "An open geographic platform that links village and town-level data across the Population Census, Economic Census, SHRUG's own night-lights series, the Socioeconomic and Caste Census, electoral results and administrative datasets, all keyed to a single stable location identifier that survives boundary changes.", "use_it_for": "The most powerful open resource in Indian applied economics. It solves the boundary-change problem that otherwise makes multi-decade village-level analysis impossible.", "caveats": "Requires reasonable statistical competence and Stata or R. Read the SHRID keying documentation before you merge anything.", "latest_status": "Continues to expand with new linked datasets and updated crosswalks. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "village level", "SHRID", "night lights", "panel", "crosswalk" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "cmie", "name": "CMIE Prowess, Consumer Pyramids and Economic Outlook", "short_name": "CMIE", "publisher": "Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy", "url": "https://www.cmie.com/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Commercial", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Household", "Firm" ], "time_span": "1990s–present", "update_cadence": "Weekly to annual", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "Web" ], "access": "Paid subscription", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Three major products: Prowess (financial statements of listed and large unlisted Indian firms), Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (a large rotating panel of Indian households covering income, consumption, employment and sentiment), and Economic Outlook (macro time series).", "use_it_for": "CPHS is the only high-frequency household panel in India and drives much of the commentary on unemployment between official releases. Prowess is the standard firm-level database in Indian corporate finance research.", "caveats": "Paid, and the CPHS sampling frame has been the subject of substantial published methodological critique, particularly on representation of poorer households. Where CMIE and PLFS disagree, say so and explain why rather than picking the convenient one.", "latest_status": "Continues as a commercial subscription; many Indian universities hold institutional access. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "CPHS", "Prowess", "unemployment rate", "household panel", "firm data" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Paid or freemium" }, { "id": "indiastat", "name": "Indiastat", "short_name": "Indiastat", "publisher": "Datanet India", "url": "https://www.indiastat.com/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Commercial", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Historic–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "XLSX", "Web" ], "access": "Paid subscription", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "A very large aggregation of Indian socio-economic statistics compiled from official sources into a single searchable interface, including a substantial parliamentary-question derived collection.", "use_it_for": "Useful for quickly locating obscure official figures that would otherwise require hunting through decades of ministry annual reports.", "caveats": "Aggregator, not originator. Always trace back to and cite the primary source; transcription errors do occur.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated commercial product. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "aggregator", "socio-economic", "parliamentary questions" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Paid or freemium" }, { "id": "dataful", "name": "Dataful", "short_name": "Dataful", "publisher": "Factly Media and Research", "url": "https://dataful.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Freemium", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Thousands of cleaned Indian datasets, including a large collection extracted from parliamentary questions and answers, all delivered in structured, ready-to-use form with API access.", "use_it_for": "Parliamentary answers contain data published nowhere else. Dataful makes that layer searchable, which is a genuine research unlock.", "caveats": "Parliamentary answers are ministry-supplied and occasionally inconsistent across years. Cite the question number and date.", "latest_status": "Actively expanded by Factly. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "parliament questions", "cleaned data", "Factly", "API" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Paid or freemium" }, { "id": "indiadataportal", "name": "India Data Portal", "short_name": "IDP", "publisher": "Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business", "url": "https://indiadataportal.com/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Block" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "Web", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Harmonised and visualised public datasets with a particular depth in agriculture, rural finance, mandi prices, credit and social protection, presented with search, charting and download.", "use_it_for": "Strong for agri-finance and rural credit questions where the underlying government data is scattered across NABARD, RBI and Agmarknet.", "caveats": "Derived and reprocessed; check update cadence per dataset.", "latest_status": "Maintained by ISB with periodic additions. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "agriculture", "rural credit", "mandi", "ISB", "harmonised" ], "finest_level": "Block or constituency", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "cityfinance", "name": "CityFinance Municipal Data Portal", "short_name": "CityFinance", "publisher": "Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with Janaagraha", "url": "https://www.cityfinance.in/", "domains": [ "Urban & Infrastructure", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "Urban local body", "State", "National" ], "time_span": "Multi-year", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Standardised municipal financial statements for thousands of urban local bodies, covering revenue, expenditure, own-source revenue share, grants and borrowings, alongside credit rating and municipal bond information.", "use_it_for": "The only realistic route to comparative municipal finance analysis in India. Own-source revenue as a share of total revenue is the headline number for urban fiscal autonomy arguments.", "caveats": "Accounting standards and reporting completeness differ enormously across states. Missing years are common for smaller ULBs.", "latest_status": "Coverage expanded substantially under Fifteenth Finance Commission grant conditions. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "municipal finance", "ULB", "own source revenue", "urban" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "npci", "name": "NPCI Product Statistics", "short_name": "NPCI", "publisher": "National Payments Corporation of India", "url": "https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/product-statistics", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "Bank" ], "time_span": "2016–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "XLSX", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Monthly volume and value statistics for UPI, IMPS, AePS, NACH, FASTag, RuPay and BHIM, with bank-wise and app-wise breakdowns including technical decline rates.", "use_it_for": "The empirical backbone of any digital public infrastructure argument. UPI volumes are the most cited Indian DPI statistic globally.", "caveats": "Volume growth includes small-value peer-to-peer transactions; do not read it as growth in commerce. Bank-wise decline rates are a better measure of system health than headline volume.", "latest_status": "Monthly releases continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "UPI", "DPI", "digital payments", "AePS", "FASTag" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "sebi", "name": "Securities and Exchange Board of India", "short_name": "SEBI", "publisher": "SEBI", "url": "https://www.sebi.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "1992–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly to annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Regulatory filings, orders, consultation papers, the annual report and the SEBI Bulletin with statistics on market capitalisation, turnover, mutual fund flows, foreign portfolio investment and investor demographics.", "use_it_for": "Consultation papers are the best early signal of financial-sector regulatory direction. Investor demographic data supports financial-inclusion arguments.", "caveats": "Bulletin tables lag and are periodically restated.", "latest_status": "Monthly bulletins and consultation papers continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "capital markets", "mutual funds", "FPI", "regulation" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "irdai", "name": "Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India", "short_name": "IRDAI", "publisher": "IRDAI", "url": "https://irdai.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Health & Nutrition" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Insurer" ], "time_span": "2000–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly to annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Insurance penetration and density, premium collections by line of business, claims ratios, grievance data and the annual handbook on Indian insurance statistics.", "use_it_for": "Health insurance penetration data is central to any argument about out-of-pocket health expenditure and financial protection.", "caveats": "Penetration is measured as premium to GDP, which is not the same as population coverage. Do not conflate the two.", "latest_status": "Annual reports and handbooks continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "insurance", "penetration", "claims", "health insurance" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "udise", "name": "UDISE+ Unified District Information System for Education", "short_name": "UDISE+", "publisher": "Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education", "url": "https://udiseplus.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Block", "School" ], "time_span": "2012-13–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "XLSX", "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A near-census of India's roughly 1.5 million schools: enrolment by class, gender, social category and disability; teacher counts and qualifications; infrastructure down to functional toilets, electricity, drinking water, ramps and internet; and derived indicators such as gross and net enrolment, pupil-teacher ratio, transition and dropout.", "use_it_for": "School-level data means you can build genuinely local evidence: a district's dropout pattern, a block's teacher shortage, a specific school's infrastructure gap. This is the workhorse of Indian education policy.", "caveats": "Data is uploaded by schools themselves, so quality varies by state and by year. Enrolment ratios still use population projections from the 2011 Census as the denominator, which can push some ratios above 100 per cent. Falling enrolment partly reflects cleaner records after Aadhaar-based student IDs as well as children leaving school.", "latest_status": "The UDISE+ 2025-26 report was released on 7 July 2026, with 31 March 2026 as the reference date. It counts about 14.67 lakh schools, 24.72 crore students and just over one crore teachers, and suggests the multi-year fall in enrolment may be levelling off.", "tags": [ "schools", "enrolment", "dropout", "PTR", "infrastructure" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "aishe", "name": "All India Survey on Higher Education", "short_name": "AISHE", "publisher": "Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education", "url": "https://aishe.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Institution" ], "time_span": "2010-11–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The annual survey of universities, colleges and standalone institutions: enrolment by level, discipline, gender, social category and state; teaching staff; gross enrolment ratio for the 18-23 age group; pupil-teacher ratio; and infrastructure.", "use_it_for": "The reference for any claim about Indian higher education scale. Discipline-wise enrolment is how you size a market for a policy programme or a new course.", "caveats": "Institutional response rates are not universal and vary by state and institution type. GER uses projected population denominators, so it moves when projections are revised.", "latest_status": "The AISHE reports for 2022-23 and 2023-24 were released together on 8 July 2026, clearing a backlog. Gross enrolment in higher education sits at around 30 per cent against the NEP 2020 target of 50 per cent by 2035.", "tags": [ "higher education", "GER", "enrolment", "universities", "colleges" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "parakh-nas", "name": "PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan (National Achievement Survey)", "short_name": "NAS / PARAKH", "publisher": "PARAKH, NCERT / Ministry of Education", "url": "https://parakh.ncert.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2001–present", "update_cadence": "Roughly triennial", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's official large-scale learning assessment, testing competencies in language, mathematics, science and social science at Classes 3, 6 and 9, with district-level reporting cards and background questionnaires on school and home context.", "use_it_for": "The only government-run measure of learning outcomes at district scale. District report cards make it usable for sub-state advocacy.", "caveats": "The 2021 and 2024 rounds differ in grade coverage and competency framing from earlier rounds, so cross-round comparison of scores is not straightforward. It measures a sample-based average, not individual attainment.", "latest_status": "PARAKH now houses the assessment; the 2024 Rashtriya Sarvekshan covered Classes 3, 6 and 9. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "learning outcomes", "assessment", "NAS", "PARAKH", "competency" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "aser", "name": "Annual Status of Education Report", "short_name": "ASER", "publisher": "ASER Centre / Pratham", "url": "https://asercentre.org/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2005–present", "update_cadence": "Annual (alternating basic and beyond-basics)", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A household-based, citizen-led survey of children's foundational reading and arithmetic across rural districts, plus periodic 'Beyond Basics' rounds covering the 14-18 age group on digital skills, aspiration and enrolment status.", "use_it_for": "ASER is household-based, so it captures out-of-school children that school-based surveys structurally miss. The 14-18 rounds are the single best evidence base on the aspiration and skills of India's rural adolescents.", "caveats": "Simple oral assessment tools by design; they measure foundational competence, not curriculum mastery. Rural focus in most rounds. Not directly comparable to NAS.", "latest_status": "The latest nationwide basic round is ASER 2024, released in January 2025, which covered 605 rural districts and about 6.5 lakh children. Check asercentre.org for any later round before citing a current figure.", "tags": [ "foundational learning", "FLN", "out of school", "adolescents", "rural" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nirf", "name": "National Institutional Ranking Framework", "short_name": "NIRF", "publisher": "Ministry of Education", "url": "https://www.nirfindia.org/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "Institution" ], "time_span": "2016–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Annual rankings of Indian institutions across categories including overall, universities, engineering, management, law, medical, and a separate innovation ranking, with the full underlying parameter scores and institution-submitted data published.", "use_it_for": "The parameter-level data, not the rank, is the useful part: research output, graduation outcomes, outreach and inclusivity scores are usable comparative indicators.", "caveats": "Institution-submitted data with limited independent verification, and participation is voluntary, so absence from the list does not mean poor quality.", "latest_status": "Annual editions continue with new category additions. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "rankings", "universities", "research output", "inclusivity" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ugc-naac", "name": "UGC and NAAC", "short_name": "UGC / NAAC", "publisher": "University Grants Commission; National Assessment and Accreditation Council", "url": "https://www.ugc.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "Institution", "State" ], "time_span": "1956–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Recognised institution lists, regulations and public notices from UGC; accreditation grades, cycle status and self-study report summaries from NAAC.", "use_it_for": "Verifying whether an institution is recognised and accredited, and mapping the accreditation gap, which is large and geographically uneven.", "caveats": "Accreditation is voluntary for many institutions and grades are cycle-specific. A lapsed accreditation is not the same as a poor one.", "latest_status": "NAAC has been moving to a revised binary and maturity-based accreditation framework; check current status before citing grade distributions. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "accreditation", "UGC", "NAAC", "recognition" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "samagra-shiksha", "name": "Samagra Shiksha and PM SHRI", "short_name": "Samagra Shiksha", "publisher": "Department of School Education and Literacy", "url": "https://samagra.education.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "School" ], "time_span": "2018–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The integrated school education scheme portal: approved annual work plans and budgets by state, component-wise allocations and expenditure, and progress against physical targets.", "use_it_for": "Tracing what a state actually asked for and received against each education component, which is the practical unit of school-sector budget advocacy.", "caveats": "Approved plans and actual releases diverge. Read alongside the Accountability Initiative brief for the same year.", "latest_status": "PM SHRI school selection and progress reporting run alongside. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "Samagra Shiksha", "PAB", "school budgets", "PM SHRI" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "pm-poshan", "name": "PM POSHAN (Mid-Day Meal) Automated Monitoring", "short_name": "PM POSHAN", "publisher": "Ministry of Education", "url": "https://pmposhan.education.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills", "Health & Nutrition" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "School" ], "time_span": "2015–present", "update_cadence": "Daily to monthly", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "School meal coverage: children availing meals, meal days served, foodgrain lifting and utilisation, cooking cost releases and honorarium payments to cook-cum-helpers.", "use_it_for": "The highest-frequency proxy for actual school attendance available in India, since meals are recorded daily.", "caveats": "Reported attendance for meal purposes is not the same as enrolment or genuine attendance, and both over- and under-reporting incentives exist.", "latest_status": "Live monitoring continues. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "mid day meal", "school nutrition", "attendance", "foodgrains" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "diksha", "name": "DIKSHA", "short_name": "DIKSHA", "publisher": "Ministry of Education", "url": "https://diksha.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills", "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2017–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The national digital infrastructure for school education: content repository in multiple languages, teacher training courses, QR-coded textbook linkages, and usage telemetry published as open data.", "use_it_for": "Usage telemetry gives a view of digital content adoption by state and language, which is otherwise unobservable.", "caveats": "Usage is device- and connectivity-dependent, so it correlates strongly with infrastructure rather than pedagogy.", "latest_status": "Continues as the backbone of NCERT and state digital content delivery. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "edtech", "digital content", "teacher training", "telemetry" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nsp", "name": "National Scholarship Portal", "short_name": "NSP", "publisher": "Ministry of Electronics and IT for multiple ministries", "url": "https://scholarships.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills", "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Scheme" ], "time_span": "2015–present", "update_cadence": "Annual cycle", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The single window for central and participating state scholarships: scheme directory, eligibility, application counts, verification status and disbursal by scheme, state and social category.", "use_it_for": "Directly useful for the community. Also useful analytically: the gap between applications, verifications and disbursals is a measurable index of administrative friction in welfare delivery.", "caveats": "Not every scholarship is on NSP; several large state schemes run separately. Disbursal figures are financial-year bound.", "latest_status": "Active each academic cycle. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "scholarships", "students", "welfare delivery", "disbursal" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "shodhganga", "name": "Shodhganga and Shodhgangotri", "short_name": "Shodhganga", "publisher": "INFLIBNET Centre, UGC", "url": "https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research", "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "Institution" ], "time_span": "2010–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "A repository of Indian doctoral theses submitted to UGC-recognised universities, with Shodhgangotri holding research synopses at the proposal stage.", "use_it_for": "Indian doctoral work often contains primary survey data on districts and communities that exists nowhere else. Worth searching before commissioning new fieldwork.", "caveats": "Quality is highly variable and deposit is incomplete. Embargoed theses are common.", "latest_status": "Continues to grow; searchable by subject, university and guide. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "theses", "doctoral", "research", "INFLIBNET" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ndli", "name": "National Digital Library of India", "short_name": "NDLI", "publisher": "IIT Kharagpur, Ministry of Education", "url": "https://ndl.iitkgp.ac.in/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research", "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "Historic–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web", "Video" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "An aggregated digital library of learning resources across levels and languages, federating content from hundreds of Indian and international sources.", "use_it_for": "Useful for locating out-of-print Indian government reports and older statistical volumes that no ministry site retains.", "caveats": "Metadata quality varies across federated sources; some links are dead.", "latest_status": "Continues under IIT Kharagpur. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "digital library", "archives", "learning resources" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "nfhs", "name": "National Family Health Survey", "short_name": "NFHS", "publisher": "IIPS for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare", "url": "https://www.nfhsiips.in/nfhsuser/index.php", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Gender & Social Inclusion", "Population & Census" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "1992-93–present", "update_cadence": "Roughly every five years", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV", "Stata" ], "access": "Open (factsheets); registration for microdata", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's flagship health and demographic survey, covering fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, immunisation, nutrition and anthropometry, anaemia, non-communicable disease markers, health insurance, women's empowerment, domestic violence and household assets, reported to district level.", "use_it_for": "The backbone of health, nutrition and gender evidence in India. District factsheets are the most-used artefacts in Indian health policy work; microdata supports almost any disaggregated analysis you need.", "caveats": "Cross-sectional, so it shows association rather than causation. Anthropometry and anaemia measurement protocols have drawn methodological debate. District estimates for small districts carry wide confidence intervals; the domestic violence module is subject to systematic under-reporting.", "latest_status": "NFHS-6 (2023-24) released 29 May 2026: 6.79 lakh households across 715 districts, all States and UTs except Manipur. Stunting under five fell from 35.5 to 29.3 per cent, severe wasting from 7.7 to 5.2 per cent, institutional deliveries rose from 88.6 to 90.6 per cent, C-sections from 21.5 to 27.2 per cent, household health insurance coverage from 41.0 to 60.2 per cent, women who have ever used the internet from 33.3 to 64.3 per cent. TFR steady at 2.0. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "NFHS-6", "stunting", "anaemia", "immunisation", "district factsheets", "women" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "hmis", "name": "Health Management Information System", "short_name": "HMIS", "publisher": "Ministry of Health and Family Welfare", "url": "https://hmis.mohfw.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Facility" ], "time_span": "2008–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Monthly service-delivery reporting from public health facilities: antenatal registrations, institutional deliveries, immunisation doses, family planning, outpatient and inpatient load, and facility-level infrastructure.", "use_it_for": "Where NFHS gives you a five-yearly population estimate, HMIS gives you a monthly administrative one. Use both: divergence between them is itself diagnostic.", "caveats": "Facility-reported and public-sector only, so it misses the large private sector. Denominators are projected, which produces coverage figures above 100 per cent in some districts.", "latest_status": "Standard reports updated monthly. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "service delivery", "facilities", "immunisation", "monthly", "public health" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "rhs", "name": "Rural Health Statistics", "short_name": "RHS", "publisher": "Ministry of Health and Family Welfare", "url": "https://mohfw.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "1992–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The annual audit of India's rural public health infrastructure: sub-centres, primary health centres and community health centres against Indian Public Health Standards, with sanctioned, in-position and vacant posts for doctors, specialists, nurses and health workers.", "use_it_for": "The definitive citation for health workforce shortfall. Specialist vacancy at community health centres is the number that carries most weight in health-systems arguments.", "caveats": "Rural facilities only. Sanctioned posts reflect old population norms, so a low vacancy rate can coexist with severe under-provision.", "latest_status": "Published annually, latterly integrated with the health dynamics reporting series. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "PHC", "CHC", "health workforce", "vacancies", "IPHS" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nha", "name": "National Health Accounts Estimates for India", "short_name": "NHA", "publisher": "National Health Systems Resource Centre, MoHFW", "url": "https://nhsrcindia.org/national-health-accounts-records", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2013-14–present", "update_cadence": "Annual with lag", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's health expenditure accounts constructed on the international System of Health Accounts framework: total health expenditure, government share, out-of-pocket share, per capita spending and financing sources.", "use_it_for": "The authoritative source for out-of-pocket expenditure share, which is the central statistic in almost every Indian health financing argument.", "caveats": "Publication lags by roughly three years. Definitions differ from budget-based health spending figures, so the two will not reconcile.", "latest_status": "Successive estimate rounds continue to show a declining out-of-pocket share. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "health financing", "out of pocket", "government health expenditure", "SHA" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nha-pmjay", "name": "Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY Public Dashboard", "short_name": "PM-JAY", "publisher": "National Health Authority", "url": "https://dashboard.nha.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Hospital" ], "time_span": "2018–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Live coverage of India's publicly funded health insurance scheme: Ayushman cards created, hospital admissions authorised, amount authorised, empanelled hospitals split by public and private, and specialty-wise claim distribution.", "use_it_for": "State-wise utilisation per card is the sharpest available measure of whether entitlement is converting into actual care.", "caveats": "Card creation is not utilisation, and utilisation is not health gain. Claim value reflects package rates, which vary by state.", "latest_status": "Live; scheme now extends to citizens aged 70 and above irrespective of income. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "PM-JAY", "Ayushman", "health insurance", "hospitalisation", "empanelment" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "abdm", "name": "Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission Dashboard", "short_name": "ABDM", "publisher": "National Health Authority", "url": "https://dashboard.abdm.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2021–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Adoption metrics for India's health data infrastructure: ABHA numbers created, health records linked, registered health facilities and healthcare professionals, and consent-based data exchange volumes.", "use_it_for": "The empirical basis for any argument about the health-data layer of India's digital public infrastructure.", "caveats": "Account creation vastly exceeds meaningful record linkage. Look at linked records, not ABHA counts, for real adoption.", "latest_status": "Live. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "ABHA", "health records", "digital health", "DPI" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ihip", "name": "Integrated Health Information Platform and IDSP", "short_name": "IHIP / IDSP", "publisher": "National Centre for Disease Control, MoHFW", "url": "https://ihip.mohfw.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Block" ], "time_span": "2004–present", "update_cadence": "Weekly", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open (outbreak reports)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "India's disease surveillance system, reporting weekly outbreak alerts and case counts for notifiable and epidemic-prone diseases down to district and block level.", "use_it_for": "Outbreak pattern analysis and early-warning work. Weekly outbreak reports are the closest thing to real-time public epidemiological data in India.", "caveats": "Passive surveillance dependent on facility reporting, so under-detection is systematic and varies with district health capacity.", "latest_status": "IHIP has progressively replaced the legacy IDSP reporting stack. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "surveillance", "outbreaks", "notifiable diseases", "epidemiology" ], "finest_level": "Block or constituency", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nikshay", "name": "Ni-kshay and India TB Report", "short_name": "Ni-kshay", "publisher": "Central TB Division, MoHFW", "url": "https://tbcindia.mohfw.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2012–present", "update_cadence": "Annual report; live notification", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "India's tuberculosis case-notification system and the annual India TB Report covering notifications from public and private providers, treatment outcomes, drug-resistant TB, and nutritional support under Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana.", "use_it_for": "One of the better-instrumented disease programmes in India, with private-sector notification data that most programmes lack.", "caveats": "Notification is not incidence. The gap between notified and estimated cases is the analytically interesting quantity.", "latest_status": "Annual India TB Report continues alongside the TB Mukt Bharat campaign reporting. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "tuberculosis", "notification", "DR-TB", "Ni-kshay" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "poshan-tracker", "name": "Poshan Tracker", "short_name": "Poshan Tracker", "publisher": "Ministry of Women and Child Development", "url": "https://www.poshantracker.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Anganwadi" ], "time_span": "2021–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "Web" ], "access": "Open (aggregate dashboards)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Real-time monitoring of the Anganwadi network: beneficiaries registered, take-home ration and hot cooked meal delivery, growth measurement of children under six with stunting, wasting and underweight flags, and Anganwadi centre functioning.", "use_it_for": "Monthly child growth measurement at scale is unusual anywhere in the world. Growth-measurement efficiency by state is a strong proxy for frontline system capacity.", "caveats": "Measurement coverage varies sharply, and prevalence computed only over measured children is biased. Poshan Tracker prevalence and NFHS prevalence are not comparable.", "latest_status": "Live; measurement coverage has improved but remains uneven. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "anganwadi", "ICDS", "stunting", "growth monitoring", "child nutrition" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "icmr", "name": "Indian Council of Medical Research and ICMR Data Repository", "short_name": "ICMR", "publisher": "ICMR, Department of Health Research", "url": "https://data.icmr.org.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Study site" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open and controlled access", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "ICMR's research outputs and data-sharing repository, covering the National Cancer Registry Programme, the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative, the National Non-Communicable Disease Monitoring Survey and the National Mental Health Survey.", "use_it_for": "The disease-burden estimates are the standard Indian citation for DALYs and cause-of-death structure by state.", "caveats": "Access to individual study data is generally through a controlled request process with approval timelines.", "latest_status": "Continues; the National Mental Health Survey second round has been in field. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "disease burden", "cancer registry", "NCD", "mental health", "DALY" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ihme-gbd", "name": "Global Burden of Disease and India State-Level Disease Burden", "short_name": "GBD / IHME", "publisher": "Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation with ICMR and PHFI", "url": "https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-results/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Global & Comparative" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1990–present", "update_cadence": "Periodic rounds", "formats": [ "CSV", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Modelled estimates of mortality, morbidity, disability-adjusted life years and risk-factor attribution by cause, age, sex and year, with a dedicated India state-level initiative producing state-specific burden profiles.", "use_it_for": "Where India's own vital registration is incomplete, GBD provides the internally consistent cause-of-death structure that comparative health arguments need.", "caveats": "Modelled estimates, not counts. Where input data is thin, the model does heavy lifting and uncertainty intervals are wide. Always report the interval.", "latest_status": "Successive GBD rounds updated with Indian inputs. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "DALY", "burden of disease", "risk factors", "mortality", "comparative" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "who-gho", "name": "WHO Global Health Observatory", "short_name": "WHO GHO", "publisher": "World Health Organization", "url": "https://www.who.int/data/gho", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Global & Comparative" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "1990s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "API/JSON", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "WHO's indicator repository covering mortality, disease burden, health systems, health workforce, immunisation, universal health coverage index and health financing for member states.", "use_it_for": "Cross-country benchmarking. When you need to place India against Bangladesh, Vietnam or Brazil on a health indicator with a consistent definition.", "caveats": "Country figures are often WHO-adjusted rather than nationally reported, so they may differ from Indian official numbers. Note the difference rather than hiding it.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated with API access. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "WHO", "UHC", "comparative health", "immunisation" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "dhs", "name": "Demographic and Health Surveys Program", "short_name": "DHS", "publisher": "USAID DHS Program", "url": "https://dhsprogram.com/Countries/Country-Main.cfm?ctry_id=44", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Global & Comparative", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Household/Individual" ], "time_span": "1990s–present", "update_cadence": "Per round", "formats": [ "Stata", "SPSS", "CSV" ], "access": "Free registration with approved research request", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The international DHS platform, of which NFHS is the India round. Provides standardised recode microdata files, comparison indicators across roughly ninety countries, and the STATcompiler tool.", "use_it_for": "The recode files are cleaner and better documented than raw national releases, and the standardisation makes cross-country comparison defensible.", "caveats": "Requires a stated research purpose and approval. Indicator definitions occasionally differ slightly from Indian national factsheets.", "latest_status": "India rounds continue through NFHS. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "DHS", "recode", "cross-country", "STATcompiler" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "lasi", "name": "Longitudinal Ageing Study in India", "short_name": "LASI", "publisher": "IIPS with Harvard T.H. Chan School and USC", "url": "https://iipsindia.ac.in/content/LASI-data", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Population & Census", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Household/Individual" ], "time_span": "2017-18–present", "update_cadence": "Longitudinal waves", "formats": [ "Stata", "CSV" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A large nationally representative longitudinal survey of Indians aged 45 and above, covering health, biomarkers, cognition, functional limitation, healthcare utilisation, work, income, pensions, social networks and elder abuse.", "use_it_for": "The only serious panel evidence base on Indian ageing. Essential for pension, long-term care and NCD policy work, and India's counterpart to the US Health and Retirement Study.", "caveats": "Age 45 and above only. Wave-to-wave attrition needs handling.", "latest_status": "Follow-up waves in progress. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "ageing", "elderly", "pensions", "biomarkers", "panel" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "ihds", "name": "India Human Development Survey", "short_name": "IHDS", "publisher": "University of Maryland and NCAER", "url": "https://ihds.umd.edu/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research", "Economy & Public Finance", "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Household/Individual" ], "time_span": "2004-05, 2011-12, third round", "update_cadence": "Panel waves", "formats": [ "Stata", "SPSS", "CSV" ], "access": "Free registration via ICPSR", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A nationally representative multi-topic household panel covering income, consumption, employment, education, health, marriage, fertility, gender relations, caste, social networks and village-level context, with the same households re-interviewed across waves.", "use_it_for": "The richest source in India for questions where you need to observe the same household over time: intergenerational mobility, caste and gender dynamics, and the interaction between social identity and economic outcomes.", "caveats": "Waves are years apart and attrition is non-random. The gender and caste modules are self-reported and carry desirability bias.", "latest_status": "A third round has been fielded; check ICPSR for current release status. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "panel", "household survey", "caste", "mobility", "NCAER" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "cdsco", "name": "Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation", "short_name": "CDSCO", "publisher": "CDSCO, MoHFW", "url": "https://cdsco.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Drug and medical device approvals, clinical trial permissions, manufacturing and import licences, drug alerts and recalls, and lists of drugs declared not of standard quality.", "use_it_for": "Regulatory-pathway analysis and pharmaceutical policy work; the not-of-standard-quality lists are a usable proxy for quality-assurance capacity by state.", "caveats": "Publication is inconsistent and search is difficult. Many decisions appear only in meeting minutes.", "latest_status": "Continues with periodic alert releases. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "drug regulation", "clinical trials", "approvals", "medical devices" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ctri", "name": "Clinical Trials Registry India", "short_name": "CTRI", "publisher": "ICMR National Institute of Medical Statistics", "url": "https://ctri.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "Study site" ], "time_span": "2007–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "India's mandatory prospective register of clinical trials, recording protocol, sponsor, sites, sample size, primary and secondary outcomes and recruitment status.", "use_it_for": "Mapping who runs clinical research in India, where, and checking whether reported trial outcomes match pre-registered ones.", "caveats": "Registration completeness improved after it became mandatory in 2009; earlier coverage is thin. Results reporting remains weak.", "latest_status": "Live registry. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "clinical trials", "registration", "protocols", "research integrity" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "mwcd", "name": "Ministry of Women and Child Development", "short_name": "MWCD", "publisher": "MWCD, Government of India", "url": "https://wcd.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Annual and continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Scheme reporting and annual reports for Mission Shakti (Sambal and Samarthya), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, One Stop Centres, the Women Helpline, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, Mission Vatsalya and the child protection architecture.", "use_it_for": "One Stop Centre and helpline case volumes by state are among the few administrative measures of gender-based violence service demand available.", "caveats": "Case counts measure reporting and service availability, not incidence. A state with more reported cases may simply have better services.", "latest_status": "Annual reports and scheme dashboards continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "Mission Shakti", "One Stop Centre", "violence", "child protection", "BBBP" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ncw", "name": "National Commission for Women", "short_name": "NCW", "publisher": "NCW", "url": "https://ncw.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Gender & Social Inclusion", "Law & Justice" ], "publisher_type": "Constitutional body", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1992–present", "update_cadence": "Annual and monthly", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Complaints received and disposed by category and state, inquiry reports, legal recommendations, and the annual report.", "use_it_for": "Complaint category distribution gives a rough map of where women are seeking redress and on what grounds.", "caveats": "Complaints to a national body are a small and self-selected fraction of grievances. Not an incidence measure.", "latest_status": "Complaint statistics updated periodically. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "women", "complaints", "redress", "commission" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "msje", "name": "Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment", "short_name": "MSJE", "publisher": "MSJE", "url": "https://socialjustice.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Statistics and scheme reporting on Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, senior citizens, persons with disabilities in part, transgender persons, and substance-use prevention, including post-matric scholarship disbursal and the transgender national portal.", "use_it_for": "Disaggregated welfare data for SC and OBC populations, plus the transgender ID and welfare portal which is one of the few administrative datasets on that population.", "caveats": "Data is scattered across annual reports rather than a unified portal. Older figures are frequently repeated across years.", "latest_status": "Annual reports continue; SMILE and transgender portal reporting expanded. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "Scheduled Castes", "OBC", "transgender", "disability", "scholarships" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "tribal-affairs", "name": "Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED", "short_name": "Tribal Affairs", "publisher": "Ministry of Tribal Affairs", "url": "https://tribal.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Gender & Social Inclusion", "Agriculture & Rural" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Village" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Statistical profiles of Scheduled Tribes, Forest Rights Act claim and title data by state, Eklavya Model Residential School status, minimum support price for minor forest produce, and PM-JANMAN and Dharti Aaba village-level saturation dashboards.", "use_it_for": "Forest Rights Act claim-to-title conversion rates by state are the standard evidence in any land and forest rights argument. Village-level saturation data supports targeted programme design in tribal districts.", "caveats": "FRA data quality varies by state and individual versus community claim reporting is often conflated. Definitions of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups differ across sources.", "latest_status": "PM-JANMAN and Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan reporting is the current focus. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "Scheduled Tribes", "Forest Rights Act", "PVTG", "PM-JANMAN", "EMRS" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "depwd", "name": "Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities", "short_name": "DEPwD", "publisher": "Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment", "url": "https://depwd.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Unique Disability ID issuance by state, disability type and gender; accessible India campaign progress; assistive device distribution; and reporting under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.", "use_it_for": "UDID data is currently the most granular administrative source on disability in India, ahead of the badly outdated Census 2011 disability tables.", "caveats": "UDID coverage is far from universal and skews toward those seeking benefits. Disability prevalence in India is widely believed to be undercounted in all official sources.", "latest_status": "UDID enrolment continues to expand; Census 2027 will provide the first fresh census disability count in sixteen years. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "disability", "UDID", "accessibility", "RPwD Act" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "secc", "name": "Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011", "short_name": "SECC", "publisher": "Ministry of Rural Development and MHUA", "url": "https://rural.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Gender & Social Inclusion", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Village" ], "time_span": "2011", "update_cadence": "One-off", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open (deprivation tables)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A household-level enumeration of deprivation indicators used to determine eligibility for a large number of rural welfare schemes, published as automatic-inclusion, automatic-exclusion and deprivation-criteria tables down to village level.", "use_it_for": "Still the operative targeting frame for several major schemes, so it matters practically even though it is old. Village-level deprivation counts remain useful for programme design.", "caveats": "Fifteen years old and never fully updated, and the caste enumeration component was never released. The dedicated secc.gov.in portal has been unavailable for extended periods, so the practical routes to the data are now SHRUG, India Data Portal and state rural development departments. Do not present it as a current picture of deprivation.", "latest_status": "Caste enumeration will be part of Census 2027 Phase II, which will supersede the unreleased SECC caste data. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "SECC", "deprivation", "targeting", "caste", "BPL" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "swi", "name": "State of Working India", "short_name": "SWI", "publisher": "Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University", "url": "https://cse.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/state-of-working-india/", "domains": [ "Work & Livelihoods", "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2018–present", "update_cadence": "Roughly biennial", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "An independent analytical report on India's labour market, using PLFS, CMIE and primary survey data to examine structural change, wage trends, caste and gender gaps, intergenerational mobility and informality.", "use_it_for": "The most rigorous independent counterweight to official employment narratives. The mobility and caste-gap analyses in particular go well beyond anything in official publications.", "caveats": "An analytical report with a stated perspective, not a data source. Cite it for analysis and go to PLFS or CMIE for the underlying numbers.", "latest_status": "Successive editions with associated open datasets and an India Working Survey. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "labour market", "wages", "informality", "mobility", "caste gap" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ilo-india", "name": "ILOSTAT and India Employment Report", "short_name": "ILOSTAT", "publisher": "International Labour Organization with Institute for Human Development", "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/", "domains": [ "Work & Livelihoods", "Global & Comparative" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "1990s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Harmonised international labour statistics, plus the periodic India Employment Report produced jointly with the Institute for Human Development analysing youth employment, education-employment transitions and job quality.", "use_it_for": "Cross-country labour comparison with consistent definitions, and the India Employment Report is the standard citation for youth employment structure.", "caveats": "ILO harmonised estimates for India are modelled onto ILO definitions and will not match PLFS headline figures exactly.", "latest_status": "ILOSTAT updated continuously; India Employment Report issued periodically. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "ILO", "youth employment", "job quality", "comparative labour" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ncrb", "name": "National Crime Records Bureau", "short_name": "NCRB", "publisher": "NCRB, Ministry of Home Affairs", "url": "https://www.ncrb.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Law & Justice" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "City" ], "time_span": "1953–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Four annual volumes: Crime in India, Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, Prison Statistics India, and Crime in India state and city tables. Covers registered offences by head, victim and accused demographics, disposal by police and courts, custodial deaths and prison population composition.", "use_it_for": "The only national crime series India has. Prison Statistics is especially valuable for undertrial population analysis, which is one of the strongest available indicators of criminal justice dysfunction.", "caveats": "These are registered crimes, not incidence, and non-cognisable offences are excluded entirely. The principal offence rule counts a multi-offence incident once under the most serious head, systematically undercounting lesser offences. Registration propensity varies with policing culture, so a state with higher recorded crime may simply record more honestly. The 2024 volume carries a further trap: it is the first full year reported under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which reclassified simple hurt as non-cognisable, so a large part of the headline decline is a change in what gets counted rather than a change in what happened.", "latest_status": "Crime in India 2024 was released on 7 May 2026, later than usual. It records 58.85 lakh cognisable crimes against 62.41 lakh in 2023, a crime rate of 418.9 per lakh against 448.3, and cybercrime crossing one lakh cases for the first time at 1,01,928, up 17.9 per cent, with online fraud about 72.6 per cent of that total. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "crime", "police", "prisons", "undertrials", "suicides", "registered offences" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "njdg", "name": "National Judicial Data Grid", "short_name": "NJDG", "publisher": "eCommittee, Supreme Court of India", "url": "https://njdg.ecourts.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Law & Justice", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Constitutional body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Court" ], "time_span": "2015–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Live pendency data for district courts, high courts and the Supreme Court: cases instituted, disposed and pending, split by civil and criminal, by case age band, by stage of hearing, and by reason for delay.", "use_it_for": "The single best evidence base on judicial delay. Case-age distribution rather than headline pendency is what actually supports an argument about access to justice.", "caveats": "Data quality depends on court-level data entry, which is uneven. Reasons-for-delay tagging is inconsistently applied. Pendency counts are sensitive to how transferred and consolidated matters are handled.", "latest_status": "Live; now includes high court and Supreme Court modules and an open API layer. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "pendency", "judicial delay", "courts", "case age", "access to justice" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ecourts", "name": "eCourts Services and Judgment Search", "short_name": "eCourts", "publisher": "eCommittee, Supreme Court of India", "url": "https://services.ecourts.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Law & Justice" ], "publisher_type": "Constitutional body", "granularity": [ "Court", "Case" ], "time_span": "2010s–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Case status, cause lists, orders and judgments for district and taluka courts, with a parallel high court services portal.", "use_it_for": "Case-level tracing for legal research and for building datasets on specific offence categories or litigant types.", "caveats": "Captcha-gated and not designed for bulk access. Scraping at volume is against the terms; use Justice Hub or DAKSH for research-scale data instead.", "latest_status": "Phase III of the eCourts project continues to expand digital records. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "case status", "judgments", "cause lists", "district courts" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "indiankanoon", "name": "Indian Kanoon", "short_name": "Indian Kanoon", "publisher": "Indian Kanoon", "url": "https://indiankanoon.org/", "domains": [ "Law & Justice" ], "publisher_type": "Community / Volunteer", "granularity": [ "Case", "Statute" ], "time_span": "1950–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open, API paid", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A free full-text search engine over Indian judgments from the Supreme Court, high courts and several tribunals, with statutes, and citation linkages between cases.", "use_it_for": "The fastest way to find case law and to trace how a provision has been interpreted. Indispensable for legal research without a subscription database.", "caveats": "Coverage of tribunals and lower courts is incomplete. Text is OCR-derived in places. Bulk API access is a paid service.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "case law", "judgments", "full text search", "citations" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "indiacode", "name": "India Code", "short_name": "India Code", "publisher": "Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice", "url": "https://www.indiacode.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Law & Justice", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1836–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The official repository of central and state legislation with section-wise text, amendment history, subordinate legislation, short titles and enforcement dates.", "use_it_for": "The authoritative source for the current text of an Act. Always check here rather than quoting a bare-act publisher or a news summary.", "caveats": "State legislation coverage is uneven. Amendment incorporation can lag notification.", "latest_status": "Continues to be updated by the Legislative Department. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "statutes", "acts", "legislation", "amendments", "bare act" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "justicehub", "name": "Justice Hub", "short_name": "Justice Hub", "publisher": "Agami and partners", "url": "https://justicehub.in/", "domains": [ "Law & Justice", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "Case", "Court", "District" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "CSV", "JSON" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "An open repository of structured legal and justice datasets contributed by researchers and organisations, including extracted judgment corpora, case metadata and court performance data.", "use_it_for": "Where to look before you decide to scrape court sites yourself. Someone has often already built and cleaned the dataset you need.", "caveats": "Community-contributed, so documentation quality varies. Check the provenance note for each dataset.", "latest_status": "Growing collection. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "legal data", "open justice", "judgment corpus", "research datasets" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "daksh", "name": "DAKSH Justice Database", "short_name": "DAKSH", "publisher": "DAKSH", "url": "https://database.dakshindia.org/", "domains": [ "Law & Justice" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "Court", "District", "State" ], "time_span": "2015–present", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Analysed court data covering pendency, case-flow, hearing frequency, adjournment patterns and judicial time use, drawn from eCourts records and DAKSH's own studies.", "use_it_for": "Where NJDG gives you counts, DAKSH gives you process analysis: why cases take as long as they do, hearing by hearing.", "caveats": "Coverage varies by court and period; analysis reflects a specific extraction window.", "latest_status": "Periodically refreshed with new studies. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "adjournments", "case flow", "judicial time", "court performance" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "india-justice-report", "name": "India Justice Report", "short_name": "IJR", "publisher": "Tata Trusts with civil society partners", "url": "https://indiajusticereport.org/", "domains": [ "Law & Justice", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "State" ], "time_span": "2019–present", "update_cadence": "Roughly biennial", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A composite ranking of states on justice delivery across four pillars: police, judiciary, prisons and legal aid, using budget, human resource, infrastructure, workload and diversity indicators.", "use_it_for": "The clearest single comparative picture of state justice capacity. The diversity indicators on women and SC/ST/OBC representation in police and judiciary are widely cited.", "caveats": "Composite indices compress a great deal. Read the pillar and indicator scores, not just the rank.", "latest_status": "Successive editions with underlying data published. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "justice delivery", "police", "legal aid", "state ranking", "diversity" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "prison-npip", "name": "National Prisons Information Portal", "short_name": "NPIP / e-Prisons", "publisher": "National Informatics Centre for MHA", "url": "https://eprisons.nic.in/NPIP/public/DashBoard", "domains": [ "Law & Justice" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Prison" ], "time_span": "2018–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web" ], "access": "Open (dashboard)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Live prison population dashboard: inmates by convict and undertrial status, gender, prison-wise occupancy against capacity, and staff strength.", "use_it_for": "More current than the annual Prison Statistics India volume when you need today's occupancy rate.", "caveats": "Dashboard definitions differ slightly from NCRB's annual compilation, so figures will not match exactly.", "latest_status": "Live. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "prisons", "undertrials", "overcrowding", "occupancy" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "vidhi", "name": "Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy", "short_name": "Vidhi", "publisher": "Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy", "url": "https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/", "domains": [ "Law & Justice", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2013–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Independent legal research and draft legislation across constitutional law, criminal justice, corporate law, health, climate and technology, with several accompanying open datasets.", "use_it_for": "Well-argued legal analysis on live policy questions, and occasionally the only published assessment of a new statute's design.", "caveats": "Advocacy-adjacent research organisation with stated positions on several issues; read it as informed argument.", "latest_status": "Publishes continuously. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "legal research", "draft law", "constitutional", "reform" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "eci", "name": "Election Commission of India", "short_name": "ECI", "publisher": "Election Commission of India", "url": "https://www.eci.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Democracy & Elections" ], "publisher_type": "Constitutional body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Constituency", "Polling station" ], "time_span": "1951–present", "update_cadence": "Per election cycle", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Statutory election reports for every general and state assembly election since 1951: constituency-wise candidate results, votes polled, turnout by constituency and gender, electoral roll statistics, party performance, and Form 20 polling-station level counts.", "use_it_for": "The authoritative source for any electoral claim. Gender-disaggregated turnout is one of the strongest empirical stories in modern Indian democracy and comes straight from here.", "caveats": "Older statistical reports are scanned PDFs that need extraction. Constituency boundaries changed in the 2008 delimitation, so constituency series before and after 2008 do not line up. Electoral roll sizes are also moving because of the Special Intensive Revision, so a fall in registered electors between two dates reflects the revision as much as population change.", "latest_status": "The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls has run in phases: Bihar from June to September 2025, twelve states and union territories from November 2025 to February 2026, and a third phase across 16 states and 3 union territories from July to December 2026. The Supreme Court upheld the exercise in May 2026. Voter services now run through the ECINet app.", "tags": [ "elections", "turnout", "constituency", "electoral rolls", "Form 20" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "lokdhaba", "name": "Lok Dhaba", "short_name": "Lok Dhaba", "publisher": "Trivedi Centre for Political Data, Ashoka University", "url": "https://lokdhaba.ashoka.edu.in/", "domains": [ "Democracy & Elections", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "Constituency", "State", "National" ], "time_span": "1962–present", "update_cadence": "Per election", "formats": [ "CSV", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Cleaned, harmonised, candidate-level results for every Indian general and state assembly election since 1962, with standardised party codes, candidate sex, party family classification and constituency identifiers that survive delimitation.", "use_it_for": "The dataset that makes long-run Indian electoral analysis possible. Party-system fragmentation, incumbency, women's candidature and vote-share series all become straightforward here.", "caveats": "Harmonised, so party classification involves judgement calls documented in the codebook. Read it before using party-family variables.", "latest_status": "Updated after each election cycle; related TCPD datasets cover candidates, MPs and social profiles. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "election results", "TCPD", "harmonised", "party system", "incumbency" ], "finest_level": "Block or constituency", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "myneta", "name": "MyNeta and ADR Election Watch", "short_name": "MyNeta / ADR", "publisher": "Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch", "url": "https://myneta.info/", "domains": [ "Democracy & Elections", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "Candidate", "Constituency", "State", "National" ], "time_span": "2004–present", "update_cadence": "Per election", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Candidate affidavits digitised into a searchable database: declared assets and liabilities, criminal cases, education and profession, for candidates in Lok Sabha, state assembly, Rajya Sabha and many local elections, plus party finance and electoral bond analysis.", "use_it_for": "The empirical basis for almost every serious claim about criminalisation of politics, candidate wealth and party finance in India. Excellent teaching material.", "caveats": "Affidavit data is self-declared under Supreme Court mandate and is not independently verified. Declared criminal cases include charges, not convictions; conflating the two is a common and serious error.", "latest_status": "Updated after each election; electoral bond disclosures following the 2024 Supreme Court judgment are covered. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "candidate affidavits", "criminal cases", "assets", "electoral bonds", "party finance" ], "finest_level": "Block or constituency", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "sansad", "name": "Digital Sansad and Parliament of India", "short_name": "Sansad", "publisher": "Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariats", "url": "https://sansad.in/", "domains": [ "Democracy & Elections", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Constitutional body", "granularity": [ "National", "Constituency", "Member" ], "time_span": "1952–present", "update_cadence": "Per session", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The unified parliamentary portal: full debates and verbatim proceedings, starred and unstarred questions with ministry answers, bills at every stage, standing and select committee reports, member profiles, and attendance and participation records.", "use_it_for": "Parliamentary answers routinely contain scheme-wise, state-wise and district-wise data that appears in no other public document. Committee reports are among the most substantive policy analysis produced in India and are badly under-used.", "caveats": "Search is difficult and answers are unstructured PDFs. Ministry answers are occasionally inconsistent across years for the same question. Use Dataful or PRS for structured extracts.", "latest_status": "Digital Sansad consolidates the older Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha archives. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "parliament", "questions", "debates", "committee reports", "bills" ], "finest_level": "Block or constituency", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "prs", "name": "PRS Legislative Research", "short_name": "PRS", "publisher": "PRS Legislative Research", "url": "https://prsindia.org/", "domains": [ "Democracy & Elections", "Governance & Institutions", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2005–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Legislative briefs on every bill in Parliament, budget analyses for the Union and most states, session-wise Vital Stats on parliamentary functioning, MP and MLA trackers, and state legislature monitoring.", "use_it_for": "The default first read on any Indian bill. Vital Stats is the standard citation for hours sat, bills passed without scrutiny, and question hour disruption.", "caveats": "Analytical summaries, not the primary text. For any legal argument, go to the bill itself on Sansad or India Code.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated through each session and budget cycle. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "bills", "legislative brief", "vital stats", "budget analysis", "MPs" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "lokniti", "name": "Lokniti-CSDS National Election Studies", "short_name": "Lokniti-CSDS", "publisher": "Lokniti, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies", "url": "https://www.lokniti.org/", "domains": [ "Democracy & Elections", "Youth & Society", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Constituency" ], "time_span": "1967–present", "update_cadence": "Per election and periodic", "formats": [ "PDF", "SPSS", "CSV" ], "access": "Open reports; microdata on request", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's longest-running programme of political opinion research: the National Election Studies covering vote choice, party identification, issue salience and social cleavages, plus dedicated Youth Studies and surveys on trust in institutions, media consumption and attitudes to democracy.", "use_it_for": "The Youth Studies are the single richest evidence base on how young Indians actually think about politics, work, gender and the state. Directly relevant to any youth-policy argument.", "caveats": "Sample-based attitudinal data with the usual caveats on social desirability and non-response. State subsamples can be small.", "latest_status": "Successive NES rounds and periodic youth and attitude surveys. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "NES", "youth attitudes", "voting behaviour", "opinion survey", "CSDS" ], "finest_level": "Block or constituency", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "lgd", "name": "Local Government Directory", "short_name": "LGD", "publisher": "Ministry of Panchayati Raj", "url": "https://lgdirectory.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Geospatial" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "State", "District", "Block", "Panchayat", "Village", "Urban local body" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The authoritative directory of every administrative unit in India with stable codes: states, districts, sub-districts, blocks, gram panchayats, villages, urban local bodies and wards, plus mappings between local government and revenue hierarchies.", "use_it_for": "The keystone for merging any two Indian datasets. If you are joining on district names you are doing it wrong; join on LGD codes.", "caveats": "Codes change when districts are created or reorganised, and several states have created many new districts since 2011. Keep a vintage-stamped copy of the directory used in any analysis.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated with API access. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "administrative codes", "district codes", "panchayat", "join key", "LGD" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "egramswaraj", "name": "eGramSwaraj and Panchayat Devolution", "short_name": "eGramSwaraj", "publisher": "Ministry of Panchayati Raj", "url": "https://egramswaraj.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "State", "District", "Block", "Panchayat" ], "time_span": "2020–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Gram panchayat development plans, budgets, receipts and expenditure at panchayat level, along with the Panchayat Devolution Index and Audit Online records.", "use_it_for": "Panchayat-level fiscal data is otherwise almost impossible to obtain. Essential for any argument about the third tier of government and Fifteenth Finance Commission tied grants.", "caveats": "Data entry compliance varies substantially by state. Absence of entries does not mean absence of activity.", "latest_status": "Live; devolution index published periodically. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "panchayat", "local government", "devolution", "GPDP", "third tier" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "mha", "name": "Ministry of Home Affairs", "short_name": "MHA", "publisher": "MHA, Government of India", "url": "https://www.mha.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Law & Justice" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Annual reports covering internal security, border management, police modernisation, disaster management, centre-state relations and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, plus FCRA registration and receipt data.", "use_it_for": "FCRA data is the practical source for anyone in the impact sector: which organisations hold registration, what they received, and from where.", "caveats": "Internal security figures are presented within a policy narrative. FCRA registration status changes frequently, so check the live FCRA portal rather than a cached list.", "latest_status": "Annual reports and FCRA online reporting continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "FCRA", "internal security", "police", "centre-state", "annual report" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "dmeo", "name": "Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office Dashboards", "short_name": "DMEO", "publisher": "DMEO, NITI Aayog", "url": "https://dmeo.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Scheme" ], "time_span": "2019–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Evaluation reports on centrally sponsored schemes, the output-outcome monitoring framework, and central government monitoring dashboards including the DISHA scheme dashboard and infrastructure performance monitoring.", "use_it_for": "Output-outcome frameworks tell you what indicators the government has committed to being judged on, which is exactly what a policy proposal should attach itself to.", "caveats": "Evaluation reports are commissioned and vary in independence. Dashboard availability changes.", "latest_status": "Evaluation series continues under NITI Aayog. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "evaluation", "output outcome", "scheme monitoring", "DISHA" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "pib", "name": "Press Information Bureau", "short_name": "PIB", "publisher": "Ministry of Information and Broadcasting", "url": "https://www.pib.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "Historic–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The official channel for government press releases, which is frequently where a statistic first enters the public record, along with the PIB Fact Check unit.", "use_it_for": "Often the fastest route to a newly released figure and the correct primary citation for a government claim. Search by ministry and date.", "caveats": "Press releases are communication products. Figures sometimes appear here before the underlying report, and occasionally differ from it. Where they diverge, cite the report.", "latest_status": "Updated daily across languages. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "press releases", "government announcements", "fact check" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "egazette", "name": "e-Gazette of India", "short_name": "e-Gazette", "publisher": "Department of Publication, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs", "url": "https://egazette.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Law & Justice" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "Historic–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The official gazette: notifications, rules, statutory orders, appointments and commencement notifications that give legal effect to policy decisions.", "use_it_for": "The definitive record of when something legally took effect. A policy is not in force because a minister announced it; it is in force because it was notified here.", "caveats": "Search is poor and requires the department and date. Many state notifications appear only in state gazettes.", "latest_status": "Published daily. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "notifications", "gazette", "commencement", "rules", "statutory orders" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "rti", "name": "RTI Online and Central Information Commission", "short_name": "RTI Online / CIC", "publisher": "Department of Personnel and Training; Central Information Commission", "url": "https://rtionline.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "Public authority" ], "time_span": "2005–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The online filing system for Right to Information requests to central public authorities, alongside CIC decisions, annual reports on RTI application volumes and disposal, and public authority-wise statistics.", "use_it_for": "When data does not exist publicly, this is the legal route to obtain it. CIC decisions also establish what categories of data public authorities must disclose, which is useful precedent.", "caveats": "Covers central public authorities; states run separate portals and commissions. Response quality varies enormously and first appeals are common.", "latest_status": "Live filing system; CIC annual reports continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "RTI", "transparency", "information commission", "disclosure" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "imd", "name": "India Meteorological Department", "short_name": "IMD", "publisher": "Ministry of Earth Sciences", "url": "https://mausam.imd.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Climate & Environment" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Station", "Grid" ], "time_span": "1901–present", "update_cadence": "Real-time to annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV", "API/JSON", "NetCDF" ], "access": "Open and paid for archives", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's meteorological authority: real-time observations and warnings, district-wise rainfall departures, gridded rainfall and temperature datasets going back over a century, monsoon forecasts, heatwave and cold wave advisories, and the annual climate and extreme weather statements.", "use_it_for": "District rainfall departure is the operative variable in drought declaration and agricultural distress analysis. The gridded century-scale series supports climate trend work at district resolution.", "caveats": "Station density is uneven, particularly in hill and desert districts. Some archive products from IMD Pune are charged. Gridded data involves interpolation, so district values in sparse regions carry real uncertainty.", "latest_status": "Annual climate statements and extreme-event reports continue; the IMDLIB Python library simplifies gridded data handling. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "rainfall", "monsoon", "temperature", "heatwave", "gridded", "drought" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "cpcb", "name": "Central Pollution Control Board and CAAQMS", "short_name": "CPCB", "publisher": "CPCB, MoEFCC", "url": "https://cpcb.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Climate & Environment", "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "City", "Station" ], "time_span": "1980s–present", "update_cadence": "Real-time to annual", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Continuous ambient air quality monitoring across hundreds of stations, the National Air Quality Index, water quality monitoring of rivers and groundwater, industrial compliance and consent data, and solid, plastic, biomedical and hazardous waste generation reports.", "use_it_for": "The official air quality numbers that regulatory and legal arguments must engage with. Station-level hourly data supports serious exposure analysis.", "caveats": "Station coverage is heavily skewed to large cities; most of India has no continuous monitor at all. Data gaps from instrument downtime are common and unflagged in some exports. Manual and continuous monitoring networks are not interchangeable.", "latest_status": "Network expanded under the National Clean Air Programme; PRANA tracks non-attainment city plans. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "air quality", "AQI", "PM2.5", "water quality", "waste", "NCAP" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "fsi", "name": "Forest Survey of India and India State of Forest Report", "short_name": "FSI / ISFR", "publisher": "FSI, MoEFCC", "url": "https://fsi.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Climate & Environment", "Geospatial" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Grid" ], "time_span": "1987–present", "update_cadence": "Biennial", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX", "Shapefile" ], "access": "Open (reports); spatial on request", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The biennial India State of Forest Report: forest and tree cover by canopy density class down to district level, mangrove cover, growing stock, carbon stock, bamboo resources and forest fire incidence.", "use_it_for": "The official forest cover figure that every environmental argument in India runs into. District-level canopy class change is the analytically useful layer.", "caveats": "The definition of forest cover includes plantations, orchards and any land above one hectare with over ten per cent canopy, regardless of whether it is a natural forest or legally forest land. Reported increases in cover can coexist with natural forest loss. This distinction matters and is regularly misreported.", "latest_status": "ISFR 2023, released in December 2024, is still the latest edition as of September 2026. It puts forest cover at 21.76 per cent and tree cover at 3.41 per cent of India's geographical area. The report is biennial, so the next edition is due.", "tags": [ "forest cover", "canopy density", "carbon stock", "mangroves", "forest fire" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "parivesh", "name": "PARIVESH Environmental Clearance Portal", "short_name": "PARIVESH", "publisher": "MoEFCC", "url": "https://parivesh.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Climate & Environment", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Project" ], "time_span": "2018–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The single-window system for environmental, forest, wildlife and coastal regulation zone clearances, with project-wise applications, environmental impact assessment reports, public hearing records, expert appraisal committee minutes and clearance conditions.", "use_it_for": "Project-level clearance data supports analysis of clearance rates, timelines, conditions imposed and compliance. EAC minutes are a rich and under-used record of environmental decision-making.", "caveats": "Search is cumbersome and older clearances are incompletely migrated. Clearance granted is not the same as compliance monitored.", "latest_status": "Version 2.0 has consolidated clearance workflows. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "environmental clearance", "EIA", "forest clearance", "EAC minutes", "projects" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "iced", "name": "India Climate and Energy Dashboard", "short_name": "ICED", "publisher": "NITI Aayog", "url": "https://iced.niti.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Climate & Environment", "Energy" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "Multi-year", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A consolidated dashboard for India's energy and climate data: installed capacity by source, generation, consumption, emissions, energy efficiency, electric mobility, and progress against nationally determined contributions.", "use_it_for": "The fastest single place to get a defensible India energy transition figure with an official source attached.", "caveats": "Aggregates from CEA, MNRE, PPAC and others, so vintages differ across tabs. Check the source note per indicator.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated; India Energy Dashboards run alongside. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "renewables", "installed capacity", "emissions", "NDC", "energy transition" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "cea", "name": "Central Electricity Authority", "short_name": "CEA", "publisher": "CEA, Ministry of Power", "url": "https://cea.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Energy", "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Plant" ], "time_span": "1950s–present", "update_cadence": "Daily to annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Monthly and annual generation and capacity reports, plant load factor, transmission and distribution losses, per capita electricity consumption by state, the National Electricity Plan and CO2 emission factors for the Indian grid.", "use_it_for": "The grid emission factor is the number every corporate and project-level emissions calculation in India depends on. Plant load factor and aggregate technical and commercial losses drive distribution-sector arguments.", "caveats": "Loss figures are reported by distribution companies with known incentives to understate. Read alongside regulatory tariff orders.", "latest_status": "Monthly reports and dashboard continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "electricity", "generation", "grid emission factor", "AT&C losses", "capacity" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "mnre", "name": "Ministry of New and Renewable Energy", "short_name": "MNRE", "publisher": "MNRE", "url": "https://mnre.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Energy", "Climate & Environment" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2000s–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Renewable capacity addition by technology and state, scheme progress for PM Surya Ghar, PM-KUSUM and solar parks, and the National Green Hydrogen Mission.", "use_it_for": "State-wise renewable capacity and rooftop solar uptake, which is where the distributional politics of the energy transition actually plays out.", "caveats": "Sanctioned, installed and commissioned capacity are different quantities and are sometimes reported interchangeably in press material.", "latest_status": "PM Surya Ghar rooftop programme reporting is the current focus. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "solar", "wind", "rooftop", "green hydrogen", "PM-KUSUM" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ppac", "name": "Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell", "short_name": "PPAC", "publisher": "Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas", "url": "https://ppac.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Energy", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1998–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Petroleum product consumption by product and state, crude import volumes and value, refinery throughput, retail price build-up including taxes, and LPG connection and refill data.", "use_it_for": "LPG refill rates by state are one of the better proxies for whether clean cooking access has translated into clean cooking use, which is the central question in Ujjwala evaluation.", "caveats": "Consumption is measured at the point of sale, so inter-state movement distorts state attribution.", "latest_status": "Monthly snapshots continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "petroleum", "LPG", "Ujjwala", "crude imports", "fuel prices" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ceew", "name": "CEEW Data and Dashboards", "short_name": "CEEW", "publisher": "Council on Energy, Environment and Water", "url": "https://www.ceew.in/data", "domains": [ "Climate & Environment", "Energy" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "CSV", "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Independent datasets and dashboards on climate vulnerability, district-level climate risk, energy access, cooling, air quality, water stress and clean energy investment, including the India Climate and Energy Dashboard's analytical companions.", "use_it_for": "The district-level Climate Vulnerability Index is one of the few sub-state climate risk assessments in India with published methodology, and it is directly usable for targeting.", "caveats": "Composite indices involve weighting choices. Read the methodology annexe before using rankings in an advocacy document.", "latest_status": "New datasets and district climate risk assessments issued regularly. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "climate vulnerability", "energy access", "district risk", "cooling", "water stress" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "climate-trends", "name": "Climate Trends and CSTEP Climate Data", "short_name": "Climate research bodies", "publisher": "Climate Trends; Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy", "url": "https://www.cstep.in/", "domains": [ "Climate & Environment", "Energy" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "City" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Independent Indian climate and energy research: downscaled climate projections for Indian states, air quality source apportionment, heat action plan assessments and renewable integration modelling.", "use_it_for": "Downscaled state-level projections are hard to find elsewhere in usable form, and heat action plan assessments are directly relevant to urban climate adaptation work.", "caveats": "Modelled projections carry scenario dependence. Always state the emissions scenario.", "latest_status": "Ongoing publication programmes. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "downscaled projections", "heat action plans", "source apportionment", "adaptation" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "indiawris", "name": "India Water Resources Information System", "short_name": "India-WRIS", "publisher": "Central Water Commission, Ministry of Jal Shakti", "url": "https://indiawris.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Water & Sanitation", "Climate & Environment", "Geospatial" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Basin", "Station" ], "time_span": "Historic–present", "update_cadence": "Daily to annual", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV", "Shapefile" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's integrated water data portal: reservoir storage, river discharge, groundwater levels, rainfall, water quality, basin boundaries, irrigation infrastructure and water body inventories.", "use_it_for": "Live reservoir storage against ten-year averages is the standard early indicator of an agricultural water crisis. Basin-level data supports inter-state water dispute analysis.", "caveats": "Station coverage and reporting continuity vary. Some transboundary river data is classified and withheld.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated with an expanded module set. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "reservoirs", "groundwater", "river basins", "irrigation", "water levels" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "cgwb", "name": "Central Ground Water Board", "short_name": "CGWB", "publisher": "CGWB, Ministry of Jal Shakti", "url": "https://cgwb.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Water & Sanitation", "Agriculture & Rural" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Block", "Well" ], "time_span": "1970s–present", "update_cadence": "Annual and seasonal", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX", "Shapefile" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The annual Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment classifying every assessment unit as safe, semi-critical, critical or over-exploited, plus groundwater level monitoring, quality data including arsenic, fluoride and nitrate contamination, and aquifer maps.", "use_it_for": "Block-level over-exploitation classification is the operative unit for groundwater regulation, crop-choice policy and borewell restrictions. This is the most policy-actionable environmental dataset in India.", "caveats": "Assessment is a modelled balance of recharge and extraction with substantial assumption dependence. Unit boundaries change between assessment years.", "latest_status": "Annual assessments continue with expanded contamination reporting. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "groundwater", "over-exploited", "aquifer", "arsenic", "fluoride", "blocks" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "jjm", "name": "Jal Jeevan Mission Dashboard", "short_name": "JJM", "publisher": "Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti", "url": "https://ejalshakti.gov.in/jjmreport/JJMIndia.aspx", "domains": [ "Water & Sanitation", "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Block", "Panchayat", "Village", "Habitation" ], "time_span": "2019–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Household tap water connection coverage reported down to individual habitations, along with water quality testing counts, functional household tap connection status and scheme expenditure.", "use_it_for": "Habitation-level reporting makes this one of the most granular welfare datasets in India. Useful for last-mile coverage arguments and for comparing reported connection against functionality.", "caveats": "Connection provided and water actually delivered are different things. Third-party functionality assessments have found gaps against reported coverage.", "latest_status": "Live daily reporting; mission timeline extended. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "tap water", "habitation", "functional connection", "water quality", "JJM" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "sbm", "name": "Swachh Bharat Mission Dashboards", "short_name": "SBM", "publisher": "Ministry of Jal Shakti and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs", "url": "https://swachhbharatmission.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Water & Sanitation", "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Village", "City" ], "time_span": "2014–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Rural and urban sanitation coverage: individual and community toilets, open defecation free and ODF Plus village status, solid and liquid waste management assets, and the annual Swachh Survekshan city rankings.", "use_it_for": "ODF Plus category-wise village status is the current operative sanitation metric. Swachh Survekshan gives comparable city-level service delivery scoring.", "caveats": "Self-declared and verification-based status categories have been questioned by independent surveys, including NSS rounds that found lower usage than declared coverage.", "latest_status": "ODF Plus reporting and annual Swachh Survekshan continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "sanitation", "ODF", "toilets", "waste management", "Swachh Survekshan" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "agriwelfare", "name": "Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Agricultural Statistics at a Glance", "short_name": "DA&FW", "publisher": "Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare", "url": "https://agriwelfare.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "1950s–present", "update_cadence": "Seasonal and annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Crop area, production and yield by season and state, the Agricultural Statistics at a Glance compendium, land use classification, minimum support price series, fertiliser consumption and the cost of cultivation studies.", "use_it_for": "The canonical source for crop production and MSP. Cost of cultivation data underlies every serious argument about farm profitability and the A2 plus FL versus C2 debate.", "caveats": "Advance estimates are revised several times before final. District-level crop data quality varies. Yield is derived from crop-cutting experiments with known variability.", "latest_status": "Successive advance estimates and annual compendia continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "crop production", "MSP", "yield", "cost of cultivation", "fertiliser" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "upag", "name": "Unified Portal for Agricultural Statistics", "short_name": "UPAg", "publisher": "Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare", "url": "https://upag.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Multi-year", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A consolidated agricultural statistics platform bringing production, price, trade, procurement and stock data into one queryable interface with standardised commodity and geography codes.", "use_it_for": "Removes the need to reconcile agriculture data across four ministries manually. Good for building commodity balance sheets.", "caveats": "A newer platform; verify unusual values against the originating source.", "latest_status": "Actively developed as the government's unified agri-data layer. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "agri statistics", "commodity", "procurement", "unified portal" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "agmarknet", "name": "AGMARKNET", "short_name": "Agmarknet", "publisher": "Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Ministry of Agriculture", "url": "https://agmarknet.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "Mandi", "District", "State" ], "time_span": "2000s–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Daily arrivals and modal, minimum and maximum prices for hundreds of commodities across thousands of regulated agricultural markets across India.", "use_it_for": "Mandi-level price data is the only way to study price transmission, spatial arbitrage and whether MSP is actually realised in a given market. Central to any farm income argument.", "caveats": "Reporting is patchy for smaller mandis and missing days are common. Arrivals data understates informal and direct sales. The CEDA and India Data Portal interfaces are far easier to use for bulk extraction.", "latest_status": "Daily updates continue; eNAM covers the electronic trading layer. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "mandi prices", "arrivals", "MSP realisation", "price transmission" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "pmkisan", "name": "PM-KISAN Dashboard", "short_name": "PM-KISAN", "publisher": "Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare", "url": "https://pmkisan.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Block", "Village" ], "time_span": "2019–present", "update_cadence": "Per instalment", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Beneficiary counts and instalment disbursal for India's largest farmer income support scheme, reported down to village level, along with eKYC and land-seeding completion status.", "use_it_for": "Village-level beneficiary counts are a usable proxy for landholding farmer households, and exclusion analysis between eligible and enrolled is a live policy question.", "caveats": "Tenant farmers and landless agricultural labourers are excluded by design, which is the central equity critique. Beneficiary counts have been revised downward after de-duplication drives.", "latest_status": "Instalment-wise reporting continues. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "farmer income support", "beneficiaries", "exclusion", "eKYC" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nabard", "name": "NABARD and NAFIS", "short_name": "NABARD", "publisher": "National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development", "url": "https://www.nabard.org/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "1982–present", "update_cadence": "Annual and periodic", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) covering rural household income, expenditure, savings, indebtedness and insurance; self-help group and joint liability group data; state and district credit plans; and rural infrastructure fund allocations.", "use_it_for": "NAFIS is the best available picture of rural household finance outside the NSS debt and investment survey, and it reports agricultural and non-agricultural household income separately.", "caveats": "NAFIS income estimates are self-reported and are not directly comparable with NSS Situation Assessment Survey figures.", "latest_status": "Successive NAFIS rounds published. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "rural finance", "indebtedness", "SHG", "farm income", "NAFIS" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "sas", "name": "Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households", "short_name": "SAS", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://microdata.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Household" ], "time_span": "2003, 2013, 2019", "update_cadence": "Roughly decadal", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open (report); registration for microdata", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The official survey of agricultural households covering income from crop production, livestock, wages and non-farm business, landholding, indebtedness, input use, awareness of MSP and access to extension.", "use_it_for": "The source of the official average monthly income of an agricultural household, which anchors the doubling farmer incomes debate. Income composition is the analytically important part: most agricultural households earn more from wages than from crops.", "caveats": "Decadal, so the most recent round is already several years old. Income is self-reported over a recall period and imputation methods have been debated.", "latest_status": "Report and unit-level data available via NADA. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "farm household income", "indebtedness", "MSP awareness", "landholding" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "agri-census", "name": "Agriculture Census and Input Survey", "short_name": "Agriculture Census", "publisher": "Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare", "url": "https://agcensus.da.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "1970-71–present", "update_cadence": "Quinquennial", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Operational holdings by size class, social group and gender of holder, tenancy status, land use and irrigation status, plus the linked Input Survey on fertiliser, seed, machinery and credit use.", "use_it_for": "The definitive source on land fragmentation and the share of marginal holdings, which is the structural fact underlying most Indian agricultural policy debate. Gender of holder data is essential for women farmers' land rights work.", "caveats": "Based on land records, so it reflects recorded ownership rather than actual cultivation. Tenancy is systematically undercounted because much of it is informal.", "latest_status": "Successive quinquennial rounds; results published with a lag. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "landholding", "fragmentation", "tenancy", "women farmers", "irrigation" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "enam", "name": "eNAM National Agriculture Market", "short_name": "eNAM", "publisher": "Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium, Ministry of Agriculture", "url": "https://enam.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural", "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "Mandi", "State", "National" ], "time_span": "2016–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Trade volume and value on the electronic national agriculture market, mandi and trader registration, farmer registration and inter-mandi trade counts.", "use_it_for": "Useful for assessing how much agricultural marketing reform has actually changed transaction patterns, which is a far smaller share than headline registration suggests.", "caveats": "Registration figures dwarf actual electronic trade. Inter-state trade on the platform remains very limited. Read volume, not registration.", "latest_status": "Continued mandi integration. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "eNAM", "agri marketing", "inter-mandi trade", "APMC" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "icrisat-dld", "name": "ICRISAT District Level Database", "short_name": "ICRISAT DLD", "publisher": "ICRISAT", "url": "http://data.icrisat.org/dld/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "District", "State" ], "time_span": "1966–present", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "CSV", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A long-run district-level panel of Indian agricultural data covering area, production, yield, irrigation, inputs, prices, wages, livestock and socioeconomic variables, harmonised to consistent district boundaries over five decades.", "use_it_for": "Boundary harmonisation over fifty years is the hard part of Indian district-level agricultural analysis, and this dataset has already done it. The standard resource for long-run agricultural econometrics in India.", "caveats": "Harmonised to 1966 district boundaries, which requires care when merging with current administrative data.", "latest_status": "Periodically extended. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "district panel", "long run", "boundary harmonised", "yields", "apportioned" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "soil-health", "name": "Soil Health Card Portal", "short_name": "Soil Health Card", "publisher": "Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare", "url": "https://www.soilhealth.dac.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural", "Climate & Environment" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Village", "Sample" ], "time_span": "2015–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Soil nutrient status from millions of tested samples: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, organic carbon, pH, electrical conductivity and micronutrients, aggregated from village to national level.", "use_it_for": "Aggregate soil organic carbon and nutrient imbalance data supports arguments about fertiliser subsidy design and soil degradation.", "caveats": "Sampling intensity and laboratory quality vary by state. Aggregation across samples of different vintages can mislead.", "latest_status": "Continues under the Soil Health and Fertility scheme. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "soil", "NPK", "organic carbon", "fertiliser", "nutrient" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "dahd", "name": "Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Livestock Census", "short_name": "DAHD", "publisher": "Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying", "url": "https://dahd.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "1919–present", "update_cadence": "Quinquennial census; annual statistics", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The Livestock Census counting animals by species, breed, age, sex and ownership, plus the Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics covering milk, egg, meat and wool production by state.", "use_it_for": "Livestock is a major and under-analysed source of rural household income, particularly for women and landless households. Breed-wise data supports indigenous breed conservation arguments.", "caveats": "Census enumeration of livestock is difficult and undercounting of poultry and small ruminants is likely.", "latest_status": "Successive livestock census rounds and annual production statistics. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "livestock", "milk production", "poultry", "breeds", "dairy" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "fci-pds", "name": "Food Corporation of India and NFSA Public Distribution", "short_name": "FCI / NFSA", "publisher": "Department of Food and Public Distribution", "url": "https://dfpd.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Agriculture & Rural", "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Fair price shop" ], "time_span": "1965–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Foodgrain procurement, stocks against buffer norms, offtake and allocation under the National Food Security Act, ration card and beneficiary counts, Aadhaar seeding and portability transactions under One Nation One Ration Card, and fair price shop automation status.", "use_it_for": "Stock against buffer norm is the standard food-security indicator. Portability transaction data is the best available evidence on whether migrant workers can actually access entitlements away from home.", "caveats": "NFSA beneficiary ceilings are still fixed to Census 2011 population, which is the central exclusion critique. Offtake is lifting by states, not distribution to households.", "latest_status": "Live dashboards under the Annavitran and Integrated Management of PDS systems. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "PDS", "foodgrain", "ration card", "ONORC", "buffer stock", "NFSA" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "mohua", "name": "Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs", "short_name": "MoHUA", "publisher": "MoHUA", "url": "https://mohua.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "City" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Annual and continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Mission-level reporting for AMRUT, the Smart Cities Mission, PMAY Urban, DAY-NULM, the PM SVANidhi street vendor scheme and metro rail projects, plus the Ease of Living Index and Municipal Performance Index.", "use_it_for": "Scheme dashboards give city-level project and expenditure data that supports comparative urban governance work.", "caveats": "Mission dashboards report sanctioned and completed projects, which says little about service quality or usage.", "latest_status": "Smart Cities Mission has concluded its main phase; reporting has shifted to AMRUT 2.0 and PMAY-U 2.0. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "AMRUT", "Smart Cities", "PMAY", "street vendors", "metro", "Ease of Living" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "opencity", "name": "OpenCity Urban Data Portal", "short_name": "OpenCity", "publisher": "Oorvani Foundation", "url": "https://opencity.in/", "domains": [ "Urban & Infrastructure", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "City", "Ward" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "Shapefile", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "An open repository of city-level Indian data across budgets, transport, air quality, water, waste, land use, elections and civic infrastructure, with a strong Bengaluru core and expanding coverage of other cities.", "use_it_for": "Ward-level urban data is otherwise almost impossible to assemble. This is the best single starting point for city-scale civic research and for ward-level advocacy.", "caveats": "Coverage depth varies enormously by city. Datasets are contributed and reprocessed; check the source note.", "latest_status": "Continues to expand city coverage. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "urban data", "ward level", "city budgets", "civic", "Bengaluru" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "pmay", "name": "PMAY Urban and Gramin Dashboards", "short_name": "PMAY", "publisher": "MoHUA and Ministry of Rural Development", "url": "https://pmay-urban.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Urban & Infrastructure", "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "City", "Beneficiary" ], "time_span": "2015–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Housing sanctioned, grounded and completed under the urban and rural housing missions, with beneficiary-level tracking, vertical-wise breakdowns and geo-tagged completion evidence in the rural programme.", "use_it_for": "Sanctioned versus completed is the analytically important gap. Female ownership and joint ownership data supports women's property rights arguments.", "caveats": "Sanction, grounding and completion are counted at different points and states report them inconsistently. Completion does not mean occupancy.", "latest_status": "PMAY-U 2.0 and PMAY-G extension reporting are current. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "housing", "PMAY", "completion", "women ownership", "beneficiaries" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "parivahan", "name": "VAHAN and SARATHI Analytics", "short_name": "Parivahan", "publisher": "Ministry of Road Transport and Highways", "url": "https://analytics.parivahan.gov.in/analytics/", "domains": [ "Urban & Infrastructure", "Climate & Environment" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "RTO" ], "time_span": "2010s–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Vehicle registration analytics by category, fuel type, manufacturer, RTO and month, including electric vehicle registrations, plus driving licence data through SARATHI.", "use_it_for": "The de facto real-time indicator of Indian automobile demand and the single most-cited source for electric vehicle adoption. Fuel-type splits by district support clean mobility targeting.", "caveats": "Telangana, and historically a few other states, have not fully integrated with VAHAN, so national totals can understate. Registration is not sales and not stock; deregistration is poorly captured.", "latest_status": "Live dashboards. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "vehicle registration", "EV adoption", "fuel type", "RTO", "mobility" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "morth", "name": "Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Reports", "short_name": "MoRTH", "publisher": "MoRTH", "url": "https://morth.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Urban & Infrastructure", "Law & Justice" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "City" ], "time_span": "1970–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Road Accidents in India, the annual authoritative volume on road crashes, fatalities and injuries by state, road type, vehicle type, cause, age and gender of victim; plus Road Transport Year Book and highway network statistics.", "use_it_for": "Road crashes kill around 1.7 lakh people a year in India, disproportionately young men. This is the only national dataset on it and it is badly under-used in youth policy work.", "caveats": "Based on police First Information Reports, so under-reporting of injuries is severe and cause attribution is coarse. Fatality definitions changed to a thirty-day standard, affecting comparability.", "latest_status": "Annual editions continue with a lag. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "road safety", "crashes", "fatalities", "highways", "young men" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "railways", "name": "Indian Railways Year Book and Statistical Statements", "short_name": "Indian Railways", "publisher": "Ministry of Railways", "url": "https://indianrailways.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "Zone", "Division", "Station" ], "time_span": "1950s–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Passenger and freight traffic, route and track kilometres, electrification, rolling stock, financial performance by zone, punctuality and safety statistics.", "use_it_for": "Passenger kilometres by class is one of the better proxies for internal mobility and migration intensity. Freight commodity mix tracks industrial structure.", "caveats": "Publication lags. Some operational data is no longer released at the granularity of earlier decades.", "latest_status": "Year Books and statistical statements continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "railways", "freight", "passenger", "electrification", "punctuality" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "aai-dgca", "name": "Airports Authority of India and DGCA", "short_name": "AAI / DGCA", "publisher": "AAI; Directorate General of Civil Aviation", "url": "https://www.aai.aero/en/business-opportunities/aai-traffic-news", "domains": [ "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "Airport", "Airline" ], "time_span": "2000s–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Airport-wise passenger, cargo and aircraft movement statistics from AAI, and airline-wise domestic traffic, market share, on-time performance and complaint data from DGCA.", "use_it_for": "Tier-two and tier-three airport traffic growth is a usable indicator of regional economic activity and of the UDAN regional connectivity scheme's effect.", "caveats": "Monthly figures are provisional. Cargo tonnage definitions differ between international and domestic reporting.", "latest_status": "Monthly releases continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "aviation", "passenger traffic", "UDAN", "airports", "airlines" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "otd-gtfs", "name": "Open Transit Data and Indian GTFS Feeds", "short_name": "OTD / GTFS", "publisher": "Government of NCT of Delhi and city transport agencies", "url": "https://otd.delhi.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Urban & Infrastructure", "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "State Government", "granularity": [ "City", "Route", "Stop" ], "time_span": "2021–present", "update_cadence": "Real-time and static", "formats": [ "GTFS", "CSV", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Static and real-time General Transit Feed Specification data for Delhi buses and metro, with comparable community-maintained feeds for Bengaluru's BMTC and several other cities.", "use_it_for": "GTFS enables real accessibility analysis: how many jobs, hospitals or colleges are reachable within forty-five minutes by public transport from a given ward. That is the strongest evidence in urban transport equity arguments.", "caveats": "Real-time feed reliability varies. Community GTFS feeds for some cities are unofficial and may lag service changes.", "latest_status": "Delhi OTD remains the most complete official Indian GTFS implementation. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "GTFS", "public transport", "accessibility", "buses", "real time" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "iudx", "name": "India Urban Data Exchange", "short_name": "IUDX", "publisher": "IISc Bengaluru and MoHUA", "url": "https://iudx.org.in/", "domains": [ "Urban & Infrastructure", "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "City", "Sensor" ], "time_span": "2020–present", "update_cadence": "Real-time", "formats": [ "API/JSON" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "An open data exchange for city data, primarily sensor and IoT streams: air quality, traffic, transit vehicle position, streetlight and water infrastructure telemetry from participating cities.", "use_it_for": "For anyone building applications or doing real-time urban analytics rather than retrospective study.", "caveats": "Participation depends on individual city onboarding, so coverage is uneven and some streams are intermittent.", "latest_status": "Continues under the smart cities data ecosystem. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "IoT", "sensor data", "API", "urban exchange", "real time" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "pmgsy", "name": "PMGSY OMMAS", "short_name": "PMGSY", "publisher": "Ministry of Rural Development", "url": "https://pmgsy.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Urban & Infrastructure", "Agriculture & Rural" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Block", "Habitation", "Road" ], "time_span": "2000–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Road-level data for the rural roads programme: habitations connected, road length sanctioned and completed, expenditure, contractor details, quality monitoring reports and geo-tagged alignments.", "use_it_for": "Habitation connectivity status is one of the cleanest rural infrastructure datasets in India and has supported a large body of causal research on the effects of rural roads.", "caveats": "Connectivity is defined against a population threshold that varies by terrain category. Completion does not guarantee maintenance.", "latest_status": "PMGSY-IV reporting continues. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "rural roads", "habitation connectivity", "OMMAS", "infrastructure" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "trai", "name": "Telecom Regulatory Authority of India", "short_name": "TRAI", "publisher": "TRAI", "url": "https://www.trai.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "Circle", "Operator" ], "time_span": "1997–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly and quarterly", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Monthly subscriber data by operator and telecom circle, the quarterly Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators report covering teledensity, broadband subscriptions, average revenue per user and data consumption, plus every consultation paper and recommendation.", "use_it_for": "Rural teledensity and rural broadband subscription by circle is the operative measure of the digital divide. Consultation papers are the leading indicator of telecom and digital regulation.", "caveats": "Subscriber numbers count active SIM connections, not people; multiple-SIM ownership inflates penetration. Circle boundaries do not match states exactly.", "latest_status": "Monthly and quarterly releases continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "telecom", "broadband", "teledensity", "digital divide", "ARPU", "spectrum" ], "finest_level": "Block or constituency", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "meity", "name": "Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology", "short_name": "MeitY", "publisher": "MeitY", "url": "https://www.meity.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Policy documents, rules and consultations covering the Digital Personal Data Protection Act and its rules, the Information Technology Rules for intermediaries and digital media, electronics manufacturing schemes, Digital India programme reporting and the IndiaAI Mission.", "use_it_for": "The primary source for India's technology governance framework. Draft rules and consultation responses are where the substantive policy fight actually happens.", "caveats": "Consultation documents are sometimes withdrawn or replaced without a clear version history. Archive what you cite.", "latest_status": "DPDP Rules and the IndiaAI Mission are the active workstreams. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "DPDP", "IT Rules", "data protection", "Digital India", "AI policy" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "cert-in", "name": "CERT-In and Cyber Security Reporting", "short_name": "CERT-In", "publisher": "Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, MeitY", "url": "https://www.cert-in.org.in/", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "2004–present", "update_cadence": "Annual and advisory", "formats": [ "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Annual reports on cyber security incidents handled by category, vulnerability notes, advisories and directions to service providers.", "use_it_for": "Incident category trends are the only official national picture of how cyber threats against Indian systems are changing.", "caveats": "Reflects incidents reported to CERT-In, not total incidents. Reporting obligations changed in 2022, creating a series break.", "latest_status": "Annual reports continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "cybersecurity", "incidents", "advisories", "vulnerabilities" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "i4c", "name": "Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and NCRP", "short_name": "I4C", "publisher": "Ministry of Home Affairs", "url": "https://cybercrime.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital", "Law & Justice" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2019–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open (aggregates)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The national cybercrime reporting portal, with published aggregates on complaints received by category, financial fraud amounts reported and amounts saved through the citizen financial cyber fraud reporting system.", "use_it_for": "Cyber-enabled financial fraud is one of the fastest-growing harms affecting young Indians and this is the only national reporting series on it.", "caveats": "Complaint-based, so it measures reporting propensity. Category definitions have changed as the portal has evolved.", "latest_status": "Reporting volumes have grown steeply; periodic PIB updates give aggregates. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "cybercrime", "financial fraud", "online safety", "complaints" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "indiaai", "name": "IndiaAI Mission and AIKosh", "short_name": "IndiaAI / AIKosh", "publisher": "IndiaAI, MeitY", "url": "https://aikosh.indiaai.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "2024–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "JSON", "Model files" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's national AI datasets and models platform: curated datasets across agriculture, health, languages, mobility and governance, along with models, tools and compute access under the IndiaAI Mission's pillars.", "use_it_for": "The designated national repository for India-specific AI training data. Central to any argument about Indian AI sovereignty, language coverage or dataset availability.", "caveats": "A young platform. Dataset documentation, licensing terms and provenance vary; read the licence before using anything in a product.", "latest_status": "Expanded through 2025 and 2026 alongside the IndiaAI compute and safety pillars. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "AI datasets", "AIKosh", "IndiaAI", "models", "compute" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "bhashini", "name": "BHASHINI and Data VaTiKa", "short_name": "Bhashini", "publisher": "Digital India Bhashini Division, MeitY", "url": "https://bhashini.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "Language" ], "time_span": "2022–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "API/JSON", "Audio", "Text corpora" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's national language technology mission: translation, speech recognition, text to speech and optical character recognition services across scheduled Indian languages, with the Data VaTiKa corpus repository and the Bhasha Daan crowdsourcing platform.", "use_it_for": "Language coverage data is directly relevant to any argument about digital inclusion. The APIs also make multilingual delivery of policy content practically feasible.", "caveats": "Model quality varies substantially across languages, with low-resource languages markedly weaker. Do not assume parity across the eighth schedule.", "latest_status": "Continues to expand language and modality coverage. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "language technology", "translation", "speech", "Indian languages", "corpora" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "ai4bharat", "name": "AI4Bharat", "short_name": "AI4Bharat", "publisher": "AI4Bharat, IIT Madras", "url": "https://ai4bharat.iitm.ac.in/", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National", "Language" ], "time_span": "2020–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Text corpora", "Audio", "Model files" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Open datasets, benchmarks and models for Indian languages: IndicCorp text corpora, IndicNLP and IndicGLUE benchmarks, IndicTrans translation models, and speech resources across two dozen languages.", "use_it_for": "The most-used open resource in Indian language AI research, and the standard benchmark set for evaluating multilingual model performance on Indian languages.", "caveats": "Corpus composition skews toward news and web text, which affects register and domain coverage.", "latest_status": "Continues releasing new corpora and models. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "IndicNLP", "IndicCorp", "benchmarks", "multilingual", "open models" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "uidai", "name": "UIDAI Aadhaar Dashboard", "short_name": "UIDAI", "publisher": "Unique Identification Authority of India", "url": "https://uidai.gov.in/en/", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2010–present", "update_cadence": "Daily", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Aadhaar saturation by state, district, age band and gender; enrolment and update volumes; and authentication and eKYC transaction counts by month.", "use_it_for": "Authentication transaction volumes are the best available measure of how much Indian service delivery actually runs on digital identity. Age-band saturation reveals where children remain unenrolled.", "caveats": "Saturation above 100 per cent occurs in some districts because Census 2011 denominators are outdated. Authentication counts include repeated attempts.", "latest_status": "Live dashboard. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "Aadhaar", "digital identity", "authentication", "eKYC", "saturation" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "sahamati", "name": "Sahamati Account Aggregator Dashboards", "short_name": "Sahamati", "publisher": "Sahamati", "url": "https://sahamati.org.in/", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "2021–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Ecosystem statistics for India's Account Aggregator framework: consents requested and fulfilled, financial information providers and users live, and success rates.", "use_it_for": "Consent fulfilment rate is the honest measure of whether India's financial data-sharing framework is working, as against the number of institutions technically live.", "caveats": "A self-organised industry body's reporting, dependent on member disclosure.", "latest_status": "Monthly ecosystem reporting continues. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "account aggregator", "consent", "open finance", "DEPA" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ondc", "name": "Open Network for Digital Commerce", "short_name": "ONDC", "publisher": "ONDC", "url": "https://ondc.org/", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital", "Trade & Industry" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "City" ], "time_span": "2022–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open (aggregates)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Network statistics for India's open e-commerce protocol: monthly order volumes by category, participating buyer and seller applications, and city and seller counts.", "use_it_for": "A live test case for whether protocol-based interoperability can restructure a platform market. The order volume series is the substantive evidence.", "caveats": "Volume growth has been driven heavily by specific categories and promotional periods. Read category mix alongside totals.", "latest_status": "Monthly network statistics published. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "ONDC", "e-commerce", "open protocol", "interoperability" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "bhuvan", "name": "Bhuvan Indian Geo-Platform", "short_name": "Bhuvan", "publisher": "National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO", "url": "https://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Geospatial", "Climate & Environment" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Grid" ], "time_span": "2009–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Shapefile", "Raster/Image", "Web services", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "ISRO's geospatial platform: satellite imagery archives, land use and land cover maps, wasteland and watershed atlases, disaster mapping, thematic layers for agriculture, forestry, water and urban, and scheme-specific geo-tagging portals for MGNREGA assets and other programmes.", "use_it_for": "The single most important Indian geospatial resource. Land use change analysis, asset geo-verification and disaster response mapping all run through here.", "caveats": "Download requires registration and some high-resolution products are restricted. Thematic layer vintages differ; check the metadata before overlaying layers from different years.", "latest_status": "Continuously expanded; Bhoonidhi is the newer data ordering interface. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "satellite", "land use", "LULC", "remote sensing", "ISRO", "geo-tagging" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "soi", "name": "Survey of India and National Geospatial Policy", "short_name": "Survey of India", "publisher": "Survey of India, Department of Science and Technology", "url": "https://onlinemaps.surveyofindia.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Geospatial" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Sheet" ], "time_span": "1767–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Shapefile", "PDF", "Raster/Image" ], "access": "Open and paid products", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's national mapping agency: topographic sheets, administrative boundary datasets, the Continuously Operating Reference Stations network, and the open series maps released under the liberalised geospatial guidelines.", "use_it_for": "The authoritative source for official administrative boundaries, which matters because boundary files from other sources are frequently wrong on disputed and recently reorganised areas.", "caveats": "The 2021 geospatial guidelines liberalised access substantially but restrictions remain on certain resolutions and areas. Some products remain paid.", "latest_status": "Open series maps and boundary data available under the National Geospatial Policy 2022. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "boundaries", "topographic", "maps", "CORS", "geospatial policy" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "datameet", "name": "DataMeet and Indian Boundary Datasets", "short_name": "DataMeet", "publisher": "DataMeet community", "url": "https://github.com/datameet", "domains": [ "Geospatial", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Community / Volunteer", "granularity": [ "State", "District", "Constituency", "Village" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Community-maintained", "formats": [ "Shapefile", "GeoJSON", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's open data community repository, best known for maintained boundary files for states, districts, sub-districts, parliamentary and assembly constituencies, pin codes and municipal wards, plus scraped and cleaned public datasets.", "use_it_for": "The practical default for anyone who needs an Indian shapefile quickly. Constituency boundaries in particular are hard to obtain officially.", "caveats": "Community-maintained and not official. Boundaries may lag recent district reorganisations. Always check the vintage and note that these are unofficial for any legal or administrative use.", "latest_status": "Actively maintained on GitHub. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "shapefiles", "boundaries", "GeoJSON", "constituencies", "open data" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nrsc-bhoonidhi", "name": "Bhoonidhi Data Dissemination Portal", "short_name": "Bhoonidhi", "publisher": "National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO", "url": "https://bhoonidhi.nrsc.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Geospatial", "Climate & Environment" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "Grid", "National" ], "time_span": "1988–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Raster/Image", "Vector/Spatial" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The ordering and download interface for Indian earth observation data from Resourcesat, Cartosat, Oceansat, RISAT and INSAT series, along with derived products.", "use_it_for": "Where you go for actual Indian satellite scenes rather than visualised layers.", "caveats": "Registration and, for some products, institutional justification are required. Archive depth varies by sensor.", "latest_status": "Now the primary NRSC data access route. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "Resourcesat", "Cartosat", "satellite imagery", "earth observation" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "nasa-earthdata", "name": "NASA Earthdata and FIRMS", "short_name": "NASA Earthdata", "publisher": "NASA", "url": "https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/", "domains": [ "Geospatial", "Climate & Environment" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "Grid", "Global" ], "time_span": "1970s–present", "update_cadence": "Real-time to historical", "formats": [ "NetCDF/HDF", "Raster/Image", "CSV", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "NASA's full earth observation archive including MODIS, VIIRS, Landsat co-located products, GPM precipitation, and FIRMS active fire detections available in near real time.", "use_it_for": "FIRMS active fire data is the standard evidence base for stubble burning analysis in the Indo-Gangetic plain and for forest fire monitoring, and it is free and daily.", "caveats": "Fire detections are affected by cloud cover, overpass timing and detection thresholds, so counts systematically understate. Comparing across sensors requires care.", "latest_status": "Continuous. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "FIRMS", "stubble burning", "MODIS", "VIIRS", "fire", "satellite" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "copernicus", "name": "Copernicus Data Space and ERA5", "short_name": "Copernicus / ERA5", "publisher": "European Space Agency and ECMWF", "url": "https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/", "domains": [ "Geospatial", "Climate & Environment" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "Grid", "Global" ], "time_span": "1940–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "NetCDF/HDF", "Raster/Image", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Sentinel satellite imagery at ten-metre resolution with global coverage and open licensing, and the ERA5 climate reanalysis providing hourly gridded atmospheric variables back to 1940.", "use_it_for": "Sentinel-2 gives free high-frequency optical imagery for land change detection anywhere in India. ERA5 gives a globally consistent climate baseline when Indian station data is too sparse.", "caveats": "ERA5 is a reanalysis, meaning a model-observation blend rather than measurement. For India-specific rainfall work, IMD gridded data is usually the better choice.", "latest_status": "Continuous. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "Sentinel", "ERA5", "reanalysis", "open imagery", "climate baseline" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "worldpop-ghsl", "name": "WorldPop and Global Human Settlement Layer", "short_name": "WorldPop / GHSL", "publisher": "University of Southampton; European Commission Joint Research Centre", "url": "https://www.worldpop.org/", "domains": [ "Geospatial", "Population & Census" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "Grid" ], "time_span": "2000–present", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "Raster/Image", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Gridded population estimates at up to hundred-metre resolution and built-up area and settlement classification layers, produced by combining census data with satellite-derived built-up surfaces.", "use_it_for": "The practical workaround for India's ageing census: gridded population lets you estimate current populations for arbitrary boundaries, catchments and buffers.", "caveats": "Modelled disaggregation of census totals, not measurement. Accuracy degrades where the underlying census is old, which is exactly India's situation. State the model version.", "latest_status": "Updated periodically with new settlement layers. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "gridded population", "built-up", "settlement", "catchment", "modelled" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "osm-india", "name": "OpenStreetMap India and Geofabrik Extracts", "short_name": "OSM India", "publisher": "OpenStreetMap community", "url": "https://www.geofabrik.de/data/download.html", "domains": [ "Geospatial", "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "Community / Volunteer", "granularity": [ "Point", "Line", "Polygon" ], "time_span": "2005–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Shapefile", "PBF", "GeoJSON" ], "access": "Open (ODbL)", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Community-mapped roads, buildings, amenities, land use, water bodies and points of interest across India, downloadable as country and state extracts.", "use_it_for": "Road networks and amenity locations for accessibility and isochrone analysis. Frequently better than official data for urban street networks.", "caveats": "Coverage quality is highly uneven and correlates with urban density and mapper activity. Rural amenity coverage is thin. Licensed under ODbL, which imposes share-alike obligations on derived databases.", "latest_status": "Continuously edited; Geofabrik extracts refresh daily. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "OpenStreetMap", "road network", "amenities", "isochrone", "ODbL" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ogd-india", "name": "Open Government Data Platform India", "short_name": "data.gov.in", "publisher": "National Informatics Centre, MeitY", "url": "https://data.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2012–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "API/JSON", "XML" ], "access": "Open, light registration for API", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's central open data platform under the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy, hosting several lakh resources contributed by central ministries, states and public sector undertakings, with catalogues, APIs and visualisations.", "use_it_for": "The obvious first search for any Indian dataset. API keys are free and make repeated pulls straightforward.", "caveats": "Quality varies widely and many resources are stale, or are PDFs uploaded as datasets. Under the data sharing policy a ministry can keep data off the platform, charge for it or restrict it, so absence proves nothing. Always check the last-updated date. The platform lists the Chief Data Officer for each ministry, which is the right person to write to about a missing dataset.", "latest_status": "State sub-portals operate on the same platform at the pattern statename.data.gov.in. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "open data", "NDSAP", "API", "catalogue", "data.gov.in" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "state-ogd", "name": "State Open Government Data Portals", "short_name": "State OGD portals", "publisher": "State governments with NIC", "url": "https://data.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "State Government", "granularity": [ "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Varies", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Every state and union territory has an open data sub-portal following the pattern statename.data.gov.in, hosting state department datasets on the national platform's infrastructure.", "use_it_for": "Where state-specific administrative data is published when it is published at all. Worth checking before assuming a state figure does not exist.", "caveats": "Activity varies enormously. Several state portals have very few live datasets and long update gaps. Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Maharashtra are among the more active.", "latest_status": "Live as sub-domains of data.gov.in. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "state data", "sub-portal", "NIC", "open data" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "telangana-odp", "name": "Telangana Open Data Portal", "short_name": "Telangana ODP", "publisher": "Government of Telangana", "url": "https://data.telangana.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "State Government", "granularity": [ "State", "District", "Mandal" ], "time_span": "2016–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "API/JSON", "Shapefile" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "One of India's most substantive state open data efforts, with department-wise datasets across agriculture, health, education, transport, revenue and urban services, plus geospatial layers and an API.", "use_it_for": "A useful benchmark for what a functioning state data programme looks like, and a genuine source of mandal-level data.", "caveats": "Update cadence varies by department.", "latest_status": "Active. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "Telangana", "state open data", "mandal", "API" ], "finest_level": "Block or constituency", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "karnataka-mk", "name": "Mahiti Kanaja and Karnataka Data Portals", "short_name": "Mahiti Kanaja", "publisher": "Government of Karnataka", "url": "https://mahitikanaja.karnataka.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "State Government", "granularity": [ "State", "District", "Taluk", "Village" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Karnataka's integrated data portal covering land records, welfare scheme delivery, public administration, law and order and revenue, alongside the Karnataka GIS platform.", "use_it_for": "Village and taluk-level administrative data for Karnataka, which is deeper than most states publish.", "caveats": "Interface is department-driven rather than dataset-driven; navigation takes patience.", "latest_status": "Active alongside KGIS and Karnataka at a Glance. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "Karnataka", "land records", "taluk", "KGIS" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "mahasdb", "name": "Maharashtra State Data Bank and Economic Survey", "short_name": "MahaSDB", "publisher": "Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Maharashtra", "url": "https://mahasdb.maharashtra.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "State Government", "granularity": [ "State", "District", "Taluka" ], "time_span": "Multi-year", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Maharashtra's consolidated statistical repository with district and taluka level indicators across sectors, alongside the annual state Economic Survey and district socio-economic abstracts.", "use_it_for": "State Economic Surveys and district statistical abstracts are the most under-used source of sub-state data in India. Nearly every state publishes one.", "caveats": "Publication timing and depth vary by state; some abstracts are years behind.", "latest_status": "Annual editions continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "state economic survey", "district abstract", "Maharashtra", "taluka" ], "finest_level": "Block or constituency", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "state-des", "name": "State Directorates of Economics and Statistics", "short_name": "State DES", "publisher": "State governments", "url": "https://mospi.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "State Government", "granularity": [ "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Every state has a Directorate of Economics and Statistics publishing a Statistical Abstract, district statistical handbooks, state domestic product estimates and often a state Economic Survey.", "use_it_for": "District Statistical Handbooks are the richest single-volume source of district-level data in India, covering demography, agriculture, industry, education, health, infrastructure and local finance in one place.", "caveats": "Websites are frequently unstable and volumes are scanned PDFs requiring manual extraction. Publication lags of two to four years are normal.", "latest_status": "Ongoing; MoSPI maintains links to state statistical systems. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "district handbook", "statistical abstract", "GSDP", "state statistics" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "worldbank", "name": "World Bank Open Data and DataBank", "short_name": "World Bank Data", "publisher": "World Bank", "url": "https://data.worldbank.org/", "domains": [ "Global & Comparative", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National", "Sub-national in places" ], "time_span": "1960–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "World Development Indicators and dozens of allied databases covering economy, poverty, education, health, gender, environment, governance and infrastructure for almost every country, with a well-documented API.", "use_it_for": "Cross-country benchmarking with consistent definitions. The India Development Update and country-level poverty and equity briefs are the accompanying analytical products.", "caveats": "India-specific figures are often World Bank estimates, not Indian official figures. The two will differ; say which you are using. International poverty lines are not comparable to Indian domestic lines.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated; the Microdata Library holds harmonised survey data. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "WDI", "cross country", "benchmarking", "API", "development indicators" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "worldbank-microdata", "name": "World Bank Microdata Library", "short_name": "WB Microdata", "publisher": "World Bank", "url": "https://microdata.worldbank.org/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research", "Global & Comparative" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "Household/Individual" ], "time_span": "1980s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Stata", "SPSS", "CSV" ], "access": "Free registration; some restricted", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "A catalogue of household, enterprise, labour force and living standards survey microdata from across the world, including Indian surveys and harmonised regional collections.", "use_it_for": "For comparative microdata work where you need the same variables measured comparably across countries.", "caveats": "Access conditions differ by dataset, from fully open to formal licensed access.", "latest_status": "Continuously catalogued. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "microdata", "LSMS", "comparative", "harmonised surveys" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "imf", "name": "IMF Data", "short_name": "IMF", "publisher": "International Monetary Fund", "url": "https://data.imf.org/", "domains": [ "Global & Comparative", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "1948–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "World Economic Outlook projections, International Financial Statistics, Government Finance Statistics, Balance of Payments and the Fiscal Monitor, plus the Article IV consultation reports for India.", "use_it_for": "Article IV reports are among the more candid external assessments of Indian fiscal and financial conditions, with detailed selected-issues papers.", "caveats": "Projections are revised twice yearly and can move substantially. Always date the vintage of a WEO figure.", "latest_status": "WEO and Fiscal Monitor updated twice a year. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "WEO", "projections", "Article IV", "fiscal", "balance of payments" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "oecd", "name": "OECD Data Explorer", "short_name": "OECD", "publisher": "Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development", "url": "https://data-explorer.oecd.org/", "domains": [ "Global & Comparative", "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "1960s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Statistics across economy, education, employment, environment, health, science and taxation for OECD members and key partners including India, plus Education at a Glance and the PISA assessment programme.", "use_it_for": "Where India is compared with OECD members on education spending, teacher ratios or tax-to-GDP, which is a common framing in Indian policy documents.", "caveats": "India is a partner rather than a member, so coverage is partial and some series are absent or lagged.", "latest_status": "Migrated to the OECD Data Explorer interface. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "OECD", "PISA", "education at a glance", "tax to GDP", "comparative" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "undp-hdr", "name": "UNDP Human Development Reports Data Centre", "short_name": "UNDP HDR", "publisher": "United Nations Development Programme", "url": "https://hdr.undp.org/data-center", "domains": [ "Global & Comparative", "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "1990–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The Human Development Index and its components, the Gender Inequality Index, the Gender Development Index, the Inequality-adjusted HDI, the Planetary pressures-adjusted HDI and the global Multidimensional Poverty Index computed with OPHI.", "use_it_for": "The standard international framing for human development comparison. The global MPI is computed from NFHS for India and is separate from NITI Aayog's national MPI.", "caveats": "India's HDI value uses UNDP-adjusted inputs and international estimates for some components, so it will not match Indian official calculations. The global MPI and the national MPI use different indicator sets and are not interchangeable.", "latest_status": "Annual Human Development Report editions. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "HDI", "gender inequality index", "global MPI", "OPHI", "comparative" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "un-sdg", "name": "UN SDG Global Database", "short_name": "UN SDG Database", "publisher": "UN Statistics Division", "url": "https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/dataportal", "domains": [ "Global & Comparative", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "2000–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "CSV", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The official global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals, with country values, metadata and custodian agency documentation for each of the 231 unique indicators.", "use_it_for": "Establishing what the internationally agreed definition of an indicator actually is before you argue about India's performance on it.", "caveats": "Global values are often custodian-agency estimates rather than nationally reported figures. India's national SDG indicator framework differs in several places from the global one.", "latest_status": "Annual data refresh alongside the SDG Report. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "SDG indicators", "global framework", "custodian agency", "metadata" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "owid", "name": "Our World in Data", "short_name": "OWID", "publisher": "Global Change Data Lab, University of Oxford", "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/", "domains": [ "Global & Comparative" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "Long historical", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "Web" ], "access": "Open (CC BY)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Long-run global data on population, health, energy, emissions, poverty, education, food, technology and democracy, presented as documented charts with underlying data downloadable and every source cited.", "use_it_for": "The best-designed source of chart-ready global comparison data, with sourcing transparent enough to survive scrutiny. Excellent for teaching and for presentation slides.", "caveats": "A compiler, not an originator. Cite the underlying source alongside OWID.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated with an open licence. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "long run", "global comparison", "charts", "CC BY", "teaching" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "vdem", "name": "V-Dem Varieties of Democracy", "short_name": "V-Dem", "publisher": "V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg", "url": "https://v-dem.net/", "domains": [ "Global & Comparative", "Democracy & Elections" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "1789–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "CSV", "Stata", "R package" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Several hundred indicators of democratic quality across electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative and egalitarian dimensions, built from country-expert coding with measurement-error models and uncertainty intervals.", "use_it_for": "The most methodologically careful comparative democracy dataset available, and the standard reference in comparative political science.", "caveats": "Expert-coded and therefore subject to coder judgement, which the project models explicitly through confidence intervals. Report the interval. Its India findings are contested in Indian public debate; present them as one measurement approach among several.", "latest_status": "Annual dataset releases with the Democracy Report. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "democracy", "comparative politics", "expert coding", "indices", "governance" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "findex", "name": "Global Findex Database", "short_name": "Findex", "publisher": "World Bank", "url": "https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/globalfindex", "domains": [ "Global & Comparative", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "2011–present", "update_cadence": "Roughly triennial", "formats": [ "CSV", "Stata" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Nationally representative survey data on financial account ownership, payments, savings, borrowing and financial resilience, disaggregated by gender, income quintile, education, age and rural or urban residence.", "use_it_for": "The standard international citation for financial inclusion, and the source of most comparative claims about India's account ownership gains and the persistent gender gap in account usage.", "caveats": "Self-reported account ownership and usage. Account ownership and active usage diverge sharply in India, so read the usage indicators, not just ownership.", "latest_status": "Successive rounds published with microdata. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "financial inclusion", "account ownership", "gender gap", "payments", "Findex" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "uis", "name": "UNESCO Institute for Statistics", "short_name": "UNESCO UIS", "publisher": "UNESCO", "url": "https://uis.unesco.org/", "domains": [ "Global & Comparative", "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "1970s–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "CSV", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The global education statistics repository: enrolment ratios, out-of-school children, completion rates, learning outcomes, education expenditure, literacy and teacher data, mapped to the international ISCED classification.", "use_it_for": "For international comparison of Indian education indicators using definitions that hold across countries.", "caveats": "Indian data is mapped onto ISCED levels, which do not align exactly with Indian grade structures. Reported years may lag Indian national publications.", "latest_status": "Continuous with API access. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "ISCED", "out of school", "literacy", "education spending", "UNESCO" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "unicef-data", "name": "UNICEF Data and MICS", "short_name": "UNICEF Data", "publisher": "UNICEF", "url": "https://data.unicef.org/", "domains": [ "Global & Comparative", "Health & Nutrition", "Youth & Society" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National", "Sub-national" ], "time_span": "1990s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Child-focused indicators on survival, nutrition, education, protection, water and sanitation and adolescent wellbeing, plus the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey programme and its microdata.", "use_it_for": "Child protection and adolescent indicators are better developed here than in most Indian domestic sources, particularly child marriage, child labour and violent discipline.", "caveats": "Indian figures are usually drawn from NFHS and re-presented, so check whether you are citing UNICEF or the original.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "children", "adolescents", "child marriage", "MICS", "protection" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "undesa-wpp", "name": "UN World Population Prospects", "short_name": "UN WPP", "publisher": "UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs", "url": "https://population.un.org/wpp/", "domains": [ "Global & Comparative", "Population & Census" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "1950–2100", "update_cadence": "Biennial revision", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Population estimates and projections by single year of age and sex for every country from 1950 to 2100, with fertility, mortality and migration components and multiple variant scenarios.", "use_it_for": "The source of the widely-cited claim that India overtook China as the world's most populous country, and the standard international denominator for cross-country per-capita comparisons.", "caveats": "UN estimates for India differ from Indian official projections because they use different assumptions. For domestic Indian policy work, use the National Commission on Population projections instead.", "latest_status": "Successive revisions issued biennially. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "population projections", "WPP", "demographic transition", "median age" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "comtrade", "name": "UN Comtrade", "short_name": "Comtrade", "publisher": "UN Statistics Division", "url": "https://comtradeplus.un.org/", "domains": [ "Trade & Industry", "Global & Comparative" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National", "Commodity" ], "time_span": "1962–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly and annual", "formats": [ "CSV", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open with limits; premium tiers", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Reported bilateral merchandise trade flows at detailed commodity classification level for almost every country, allowing mirror-statistics comparison between reporter and partner.", "use_it_for": "Mirror analysis is the useful trick: comparing India's reported imports from a country against that country's reported exports to India reveals under-invoicing and misreporting.", "caveats": "Reporting lags and gaps are common. Mirror discrepancies also arise from valuation basis, so not every gap is misreporting.", "latest_status": "Comtrade Plus is the current interface. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "bilateral trade", "mirror statistics", "HS classification", "exports" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "icpsr", "name": "ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research", "short_name": "ICPSR", "publisher": "University of Michigan", "url": "https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "Varies" ], "time_span": "1960s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Stata", "SPSS", "CSV" ], "access": "Member institution or open subsets", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The world's largest social science data archive, holding many India-relevant collections including IHDS, with documentation, codebooks and analysis tools.", "use_it_for": "Where major academic surveys are deposited for long-term preservation. Often the most reliable route to a dataset whose original host site has gone dark.", "caveats": "Full access generally requires an institutional membership; some collections are openly available.", "latest_status": "Continuously catalogued. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "social science archive", "IHDS", "codebooks", "preservation" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "harvard-dataverse", "name": "Harvard Dataverse", "short_name": "Dataverse", "publisher": "Harvard University", "url": "https://dataverse.harvard.edu/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "Varies" ], "time_span": "2007–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "Stata", "Various" ], "access": "Open, some restricted", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "A general-purpose research data repository holding replication packages for a very large share of published empirical economics and political science, including a great deal of India-focused work.", "use_it_for": "Replication packages are underrated. If a paper made a claim about India you want to build on, the cleaned dataset and code are frequently deposited here.", "caveats": "Deposit quality varies; some packages are incomplete or lack documentation.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "replication", "research data", "DOI", "economics", "political science" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "zenodo-osf", "name": "Zenodo, OSF and Figshare", "short_name": "Open repositories", "publisher": "CERN; Center for Open Science; Digital Science", "url": "https://zenodo.org/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "Varies" ], "time_span": "2013–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Various" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "General-purpose open repositories for datasets, code, preprints and supplementary materials, each issuing persistent DOIs.", "use_it_for": "Where to deposit your own data and code so that a policy claim you make remains verifiable years later. Also where much civil-society research data now lives.", "caveats": "No subject curation; discovery depends on good metadata by the depositor.", "latest_status": "Continuous. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "DOI", "open science", "preprints", "deposit", "reproducibility" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "icssr", "name": "ICSSR Data Service", "short_name": "ICSSR", "publisher": "Indian Council of Social Science Research", "url": "http://icssrdataservice.in/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "Varies" ], "time_span": "Historic–present", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "CSV", "Stata", "PDF" ], "access": "Free registration", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "India's social science data archive, holding NSS rounds, ASI data and other survey collections with metadata catalogued in NADA format.", "use_it_for": "An alternative access route to older NSS rounds when MoSPI's own archive is incomplete.", "caveats": "Site availability has been intermittent. Coverage overlaps with microdata.gov.in.", "latest_status": "Continues under ICSSR. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "social science", "NSS archive", "India data service" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Free registration" }, { "id": "openalex", "name": "OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar", "short_name": "OpenAlex", "publisher": "OurResearch; Allen Institute for AI", "url": "https://openalex.org/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "Global", "Institution", "Author" ], "time_span": "Historic–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "API/JSON", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Open scholarly metadata covering works, authors, institutions, funders and citation links, replacing the discontinued Microsoft Academic Graph, with a fully open API.", "use_it_for": "Research output analysis by Indian institution, discipline and funder. Useful for science policy work and for mapping who is publishing on a policy question.", "caveats": "Metadata completeness varies, particularly for Indian journals and non-English output. Institutional disambiguation for Indian universities is imperfect.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "bibliometrics", "citations", "research output", "science policy", "open API" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "moyas", "name": "Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and NYKS", "short_name": "MoYAS", "publisher": "MoYAS, Government of India", "url": "https://yas.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Youth & Society" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Youth programme reporting: Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan youth club and volunteer networks, the National Service Scheme, My Bharat portal registrations, the National Youth Policy framework and Khelo India sports infrastructure and athlete data.", "use_it_for": "NYKS and NSS volunteer numbers by district are among the very few administrative measures of organised youth participation in India, which is directly relevant to youth mobilisation programme design.", "caveats": "Registration and enrolment counts, not engagement measures. Volunteer figures include inactive registrations.", "latest_status": "My Bharat has consolidated several youth engagement platforms. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "youth policy", "NYKS", "NSS volunteers", "My Bharat", "Khelo India" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ncpcr", "name": "National Commission for Protection of Child Rights", "short_name": "NCPCR", "publisher": "NCPCR", "url": "https://ncpcr.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Youth & Society", "Gender & Social Inclusion" ], "publisher_type": "Constitutional body", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2007–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Complaints and inquiry reports on child rights violations, monitoring reports on the Right to Education Act, child labour, child marriage, juvenile justice institutions and child care institutions.", "use_it_for": "Child care institution audits and RTE monitoring reports contain field-level findings unavailable elsewhere.", "caveats": "Complaint-driven and inquiry-based, so coverage reflects where complaints were made.", "latest_status": "Reports continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "child rights", "RTE", "child labour", "juvenile justice", "CCI" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "prasar-bharati", "name": "Prasar Bharati Archives and MIB Data", "short_name": "Prasar Bharati", "publisher": "Prasar Bharati; Ministry of Information and Broadcasting", "url": "https://prasarbharati.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Youth & Society", "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1930s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Video", "Audio", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The audiovisual archive of All India Radio and Doordarshan, alongside Ministry of Information and Broadcasting statistics on registered newspapers, private satellite channels, community radio stations and film certification.", "use_it_for": "Community radio station counts by state are a useful measure of local media infrastructure. The archive is a primary source for media and political communication research.", "caveats": "Archive digitisation is partial. Registered newspaper counts include many defunct titles.", "latest_status": "Continuing digitisation; the Registrar of Publications data has moved under the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act 2023 framework. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "media", "community radio", "broadcasting", "archives", "newspapers" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "indianculture", "name": "Indian Culture Portal and IGNCA Archives", "short_name": "Indian Culture", "publisher": "Ministry of Culture with IIT Bombay", "url": "https://www.indianculture.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Youth & Society" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "Historic", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web", "Video", "Raster/Image" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Digitised manuscripts, rare books, gazetteers, photographs, museum collections, intangible cultural heritage records and the National Cultural Audiovisual Archives.", "use_it_for": "Colonial-era district gazetteers hosted here are an excellent source of historical baseline data on Indian districts for long-run comparative work.", "caveats": "Metadata and OCR quality vary. Coverage is selective rather than comprehensive.", "latest_status": "Continues to expand. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "gazetteers", "manuscripts", "heritage", "historical", "archives" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "asi-monuments", "name": "Archaeological Survey of India and Tourism Statistics", "short_name": "ASI / MoT", "publisher": "Archaeological Survey of India; Ministry of Tourism", "url": "https://tourism.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Youth & Society", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Site" ], "time_span": "1990s–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "India Tourism Statistics covering foreign tourist arrivals, domestic tourist visits by state, foreign exchange earnings and employment in tourism, plus ASI monument-wise visitor numbers and ticketing revenue.", "use_it_for": "Domestic tourist visits by state is a reasonable proxy for internal mobility and for local service-sector activity outside metros.", "caveats": "Domestic visit counts are state-reported and use inconsistent counting methods, so inter-state comparison needs care.", "latest_status": "Annual India Tourism Statistics volumes continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "tourism", "monuments", "visitors", "foreign exchange", "mobility" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ncaer", "name": "NCAER", "short_name": "NCAER", "publisher": "National Council of Applied Economic Research", "url": "https://www.ncaer.org/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1956–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open reports; data varies", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "India's oldest independent economic research institute. Produces the Business Confidence Index, the NCAER State Investment Potential Index, land records and services indices, and co-produces the India Human Development Survey.", "use_it_for": "The state investment potential and land records indices are among the few independent comparative measures of state business environment after the discontinuation of the official ease of doing business ranking.", "caveats": "Some indices are sponsored research; check the funder disclosure.", "latest_status": "Continues publishing quarterly and annual indices. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "business confidence", "state investment", "land records", "IHDS" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "igidr-nipfp", "name": "IGIDR and NIPFP Research Data", "short_name": "IGIDR / NIPFP", "publisher": "Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research; National Institute of Public Finance and Policy", "url": "https://www.nipfp.org.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "1970s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Working papers and datasets on public finance, taxation, fiscal federalism, financial markets and macroeconomic policy, including detailed state finance analysis and tax expenditure work.", "use_it_for": "NIPFP working papers are the standard technical reference for Indian tax and fiscal federalism questions, and frequently pre-date official positions by years.", "caveats": "Working papers are not peer-reviewed final publications; check for a subsequent journal version.", "latest_status": "Continuous publication. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "public finance", "taxation", "fiscal federalism", "working papers" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "cpr-cse", "name": "Centre for Policy Research and allied Indian think tanks", "short_name": "Indian think tanks", "publisher": "CPR; CSEP; ICRIER; ORF; Takshashila; CSE", "url": "https://csep.org/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Economy & Public Finance", "Climate & Environment" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "City" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's independent policy research ecosystem: the Centre for Social and Economic Progress on macro and energy, ICRIER on trade and agriculture, Observer Research Foundation on strategic and technology policy, the Takshashila Institution on public policy pedagogy and technology, and the Centre for Science and Environment on environment and health, each publishing datasets alongside analysis.", "use_it_for": "Think tank datasets often fill gaps official statistics do not cover, particularly on urban governance, energy transition and environmental health.", "caveats": "Each institution has stated positions and funding relationships. Read the analysis as informed argument and go upstream for the underlying data.", "latest_status": "All publish continuously; CPR's FCRA status was affected in 2023, which changed its programme scale. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "think tanks", "policy research", "CSEP", "ICRIER", "ORF", "CSE" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "jpal-ipa", "name": "J-PAL South Asia and Innovations for Poverty Action", "short_name": "J-PAL / IPA", "publisher": "Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab; IPA", "url": "https://www.povertyactionlab.org/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "Varies" ], "time_span": "2003–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Stata", "CSV", "PDF" ], "access": "Open (evaluations and data)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Randomised evaluations of social programmes with published replication data, policy insights synthesising evidence across studies, and cost-effectiveness comparisons. J-PAL South Asia runs a large Indian evaluation portfolio in partnership with state governments.", "use_it_for": "Policy Insights pages give you the state of evidence on a question in a form a minister can read. The evaluation data is deposited and reusable.", "caveats": "Randomised evaluations answer narrow questions in specific contexts. External validity claims need argument, not assertion.", "latest_status": "Continues with an expanding Indian government partnership portfolio. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "RCT", "impact evaluation", "evidence", "cost effectiveness", "J-PAL" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "idinsight", "name": "IDinsight and Sattva India Data Insights", "short_name": "IDinsight / IDI", "publisher": "IDinsight; Sattva Consulting", "url": "https://indiadatainsights.com/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Varies", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Data-driven analysis for the Indian social sector: India Data Insights visualises development indicators by state and district, alongside measurement and evaluation work for governments and funders.", "use_it_for": "Useful for the impact sector specifically, where the audience needs district-level comparison presented accessibly rather than a technical paper.", "caveats": "Derived visualisations; trace to primary sources before formal citation.", "latest_status": "Continues. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "social sector", "district indicators", "impact", "measurement" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ndma", "name": "National Disaster Management Authority and NDMIS", "short_name": "NDMA", "publisher": "NDMA, Ministry of Home Affairs", "url": "https://ndma.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Climate & Environment", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2005–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web", "Shapefile" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Disaster management plans, hazard vulnerability atlases, the National Disaster Management Information System recording event-wise damage and loss, and the Sachet common alerting protocol for public warnings.", "use_it_for": "District hazard profiles support risk-informed planning, and damage-and-loss records are the basis for arguing about disaster finance adequacy.", "caveats": "Loss estimation methods differ by state and event. Under-recording of slow-onset events such as drought and heat is systematic.", "latest_status": "NDMIS reporting continues; heat action plans have become a growth area. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "disaster", "hazard", "vulnerability", "damage and loss", "early warning" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "bmtpc", "name": "Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council Hazard Atlas", "short_name": "BMTPC Atlas", "publisher": "BMTPC, MoHUA", "url": "https://bmtpc.org/", "domains": [ "Climate & Environment", "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "District" ], "time_span": "2019 edition", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "PDF", "Raster/Image" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The Vulnerability Atlas of India mapping district-level seismic, cyclone, flood, landslide and thunderstorm hazard alongside housing stock vulnerability derived from census housing data.", "use_it_for": "The standard reference for district hazard classification in Indian planning documents and building code arguments.", "caveats": "Housing vulnerability is based on Census 2011 housing tables and is therefore dated.", "latest_status": "Third edition remains the current reference. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "seismic zones", "cyclone", "flood", "housing vulnerability", "hazard atlas" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "migration", "name": "Migration in India: NSS Survey and Census D-Series", "short_name": "Migration data", "publisher": "MoSPI; Registrar General of India", "url": "https://microdata.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Population & Census", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "1983–2020-21", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's two principal migration sources: the Census D-series tables on migrants by last residence, reason and duration, and the NSS Migration Survey (most recently 2020-21) covering migration, temporary visitors and remittances.", "use_it_for": "Migration is one of India's largest measurement failures and these are the only national sources. Reason-for-migration by sex is essential to any argument about female migration being predominantly marriage-driven in official data.", "caveats": "Both sources systematically undercount short-term and circular migration, which is the dominant form for poor households. Census counts migrants by place of last residence, which misses repeat movement entirely. Treat all Indian migration estimates as lower bounds.", "latest_status": "NSS Migration Survey 2020-21 report and unit-level data released; Census 2027 will refresh the D-series. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "migration", "circular migration", "remittances", "D-series", "undercount" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "msme", "name": "Ministry of MSME and Udyam Registration", "short_name": "Udyam / MSME", "publisher": "Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises", "url": "https://udyamregistration.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Trade & Industry", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2020–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open (aggregates)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Udyam registration counts by enterprise category, sector, state, district, gender and social category of promoter, along with employment reported at registration and the Udyam Assist Platform for informal micro enterprises.", "use_it_for": "The most current administrative picture of Indian MSMEs, replacing the badly outdated 2006-07 MSME Census. Gender and social category of promoter is a valuable and rarely used disaggregation.", "caveats": "Self-registration driven by scheme access, so it captures enterprises seeking benefits rather than all enterprises. Employment is self-declared at registration and not updated.", "latest_status": "Registration continues to grow rapidly, with Udyam Assist onboarding informal micro units. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "MSME", "Udyam", "enterprises", "women entrepreneurs", "registration" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "startup-india", "name": "Startup India and DPIIT Recognition Data", "short_name": "Startup India", "publisher": "Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade", "url": "https://www.startupindia.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Trade & Industry", "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Sector" ], "time_span": "2016–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "DPIIT-recognised startup counts by state, district, sector and year, women-led startup share, the States' Startup Ranking framework and Fund of Funds deployment.", "use_it_for": "Recognition data by district is a reasonable proxy for the geographic spread of formal entrepreneurial activity beyond the major metros.", "caveats": "Recognition is a tax and compliance status, not a measure of viability or funding. Many recognised entities are dormant.", "latest_status": "Recognition counts continue to rise; the States' Startup Ranking runs periodically. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "startups", "DPIIT", "entrepreneurship", "women-led", "state ranking" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "dpiit-fdi", "name": "DPIIT FDI Statistics and Industrial Data", "short_name": "DPIIT", "publisher": "Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade", "url": "https://dpiit.gov.in/publications/fdi-statistics", "domains": [ "Trade & Industry", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Sector", "Country" ], "time_span": "2000–present", "update_cadence": "Quarterly", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Foreign direct investment inflows by sector, source country and recipient state region, plus the Index of Eight Core Industries and production-linked incentive scheme reporting.", "use_it_for": "Sectoral and state FDI distribution is the standard evidence for arguments about industrial policy and regional investment concentration.", "caveats": "State attribution follows RBI regional office location, not the location of actual investment, so it systematically overstates Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka.", "latest_status": "Quarterly FDI factsheets continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "FDI", "core industries", "PLI", "sectoral investment" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ib-intelligence", "name": "Invest India and Sector Investment Data", "short_name": "Invest India", "publisher": "Invest India", "url": "https://www.investindia.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Trade & Industry" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Sector" ], "time_span": "2016–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Sector profiles, state investment guides, incentive comparisons across states and project facilitation data from India's national investment promotion agency.", "use_it_for": "The state incentive comparison tables are practically useful and hard to compile independently.", "caveats": "Investment promotion material with a persuasive purpose. Verify incentive terms against the state industrial policy document.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "investment promotion", "state incentives", "sector profiles" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "tracxn-crunch", "name": "Tracxn, Crunchbase and Private Market Data", "short_name": "Private market trackers", "publisher": "Tracxn; Crunchbase; Venture Intelligence", "url": "https://tracxn.com/", "domains": [ "Trade & Industry", "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "Commercial", "granularity": [ "Company", "Sector", "City" ], "time_span": "2000s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV" ], "access": "Freemium to paid", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Private company and funding databases covering Indian startups: funding rounds, investors, valuations, acquisitions and sector taxonomies.", "use_it_for": "For sizing a sector's private capital flows or mapping who funds what in a given policy space.", "caveats": "Funding data is compiled from announcements and filings and is incomplete for unannounced rounds. Valuations are reported, not verified. Paid tiers for meaningful access.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated commercial products. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "startup funding", "venture capital", "private markets", "valuations" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Paid or freemium" }, { "id": "screener-nse", "name": "NSE, BSE and Screener", "short_name": "Market data", "publisher": "National Stock Exchange; Bombay Stock Exchange; Screener.in", "url": "https://www.nseindia.com/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "Company", "Index" ], "time_span": "1990s–present", "update_cadence": "Real-time to annual", "formats": [ "CSV", "XLSX", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open with limits", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Exchange price and volume data, corporate announcements, shareholding patterns, index constituents and derivatives data, with Screener providing a free interface over company financial statements.", "use_it_for": "Shareholding pattern data supports ownership concentration analysis, and corporate announcements are the primary source for company-level policy responses.", "caveats": "Exchange sites impose rate limits and block automated access. Historical bulk data is generally a paid product.", "latest_status": "Continuous. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "stock market", "shareholding", "company financials", "indices" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "zauba-probe", "name": "Zauba Corp and Company Registry Aggregators", "short_name": "Registry aggregators", "publisher": "Zauba Technologies and others", "url": "https://www.zaubacorp.com/", "domains": [ "Trade & Industry", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Commercial", "granularity": [ "Company" ], "time_span": "Historic–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "PDF" ], "access": "Freemium", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Structured views over MCA registry filings: company status, directors, charges, registered address and financial summaries, searchable without navigating the MCA portal.", "use_it_for": "Fast due diligence on an implementing partner, vendor or grantee before you contract with them.", "caveats": "Third-party mirrors of official filings with a lag. For anything consequential, verify on MCA directly.", "latest_status": "Continuously updated. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "company search", "directors", "due diligence", "registry" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Paid or freemium" }, { "id": "fssai", "name": "Food Safety and Standards Authority of India", "short_name": "FSSAI", "publisher": "FSSAI, MoHFW", "url": "https://fssai.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Agriculture & Rural" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2011–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Food safety surveillance and sampling results by state, licensing and registration counts, standards and regulations, the Eat Right India campaign and food fortification data.", "use_it_for": "State-wise sample failure rates are a measurable proxy for food safety enforcement capacity, and fortification data supports micronutrient policy arguments.", "caveats": "Sampling is not random across states, so failure rates reflect both product quality and testing strategy.", "latest_status": "Annual reports and surveillance summaries continue. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "food safety", "fortification", "sampling", "standards", "licensing" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nsso-debt", "name": "NSS All India Debt and Investment Survey", "short_name": "AIDIS", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://microdata.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Agriculture & Rural" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Household" ], "time_span": "1951–2019", "update_cadence": "Roughly decadal", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Household assets, liabilities, indebtedness by source of credit, and capital expenditure, separately for rural and urban households.", "use_it_for": "The only official source on household wealth distribution in India, and therefore the basis for almost every serious Indian wealth inequality estimate.", "caveats": "Wealth surveys systematically under-capture the top of the distribution. Estimates of top-end concentration built on AIDIS alone will understate; the literature corrects using tax data.", "latest_status": "The 2019 round remains the latest; report and microdata available via NADA. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "household wealth", "indebtedness", "assets", "inequality", "informal credit" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "wid", "name": "World Inequality Database", "short_name": "WID.world", "publisher": "World Inequality Lab, Paris School of Economics", "url": "https://wid.world/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Global & Comparative" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "1900s–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "API/JSON" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": true, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Income and wealth distribution series constructed by combining survey, national accounts and tax data, including a long India series covering top income and wealth shares across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.", "use_it_for": "The source of the widely cited estimates of Indian top income and wealth concentration reaching historic highs. Distributional national accounts reconcile survey and macro data, which surveys alone cannot.", "caveats": "Estimates rely on assumptions where Indian tax data is incomplete, and the methodology is debated. Report it as one estimate with a stated method, and note that Indian official statistics publish no comparable series.", "latest_status": "India series updated periodically by the World Inequality Lab. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "inequality", "top income share", "wealth concentration", "DINA", "tax data" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "klems", "name": "India KLEMS Database", "short_name": "India KLEMS", "publisher": "Reserve Bank of India with academic partners", "url": "https://www.rbi.org.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "Industry" ], "time_span": "1980-81–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Industry-level growth accounting for India: capital, labour, energy, materials and services inputs, gross value added, employment and total factor productivity across twenty-seven industries over four decades.", "use_it_for": "The standard dataset for productivity decomposition in India, and the basis for any argument about whether Indian growth is input-driven or productivity-driven.", "caveats": "Constructed from multiple sources with imputation, particularly for the unorganised sector. Read the methodology note.", "latest_status": "Updated annually by the RBI. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "productivity", "TFP", "growth accounting", "industry", "KLEMS" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "crime-victim", "name": "National Crime Victimisation and Police Perception Studies", "short_name": "Victimisation studies", "publisher": "Common Cause with Lokniti-CSDS; Tata Trusts", "url": "https://www.commoncause.in/", "domains": [ "Law & Justice", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2018–present", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The Status of Policing in India Report series, based on large-scale surveys of citizens and of police personnel covering trust in police, experience of policing, working conditions, bias and use of force.", "use_it_for": "NCRB tells you what was registered. These surveys tell you what people experienced and did not report, which is the missing half of any criminal justice argument.", "caveats": "Attitudinal survey data with the usual response biases, particularly on sensitive experiences. Sample design and state coverage vary between editions.", "latest_status": "Successive editions with underlying data released. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "policing", "trust", "victimisation", "bias", "police personnel" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "health-heatmap", "name": "Health Heatmap of India", "short_name": "Health Heatmap", "publisher": "Public Health Foundation of India and partners", "url": "https://healthheatmapindia.org/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Geospatial" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "State", "District" ], "time_span": "Multi-year", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "District-level health indicators visualised on maps, integrating NFHS, HMIS, Census and disease burden data into a single geographic interface.", "use_it_for": "Fast district-level health mapping without assembling and joining the sources yourself.", "caveats": "Derived and periodically refreshed; check the vintage per indicator.", "latest_status": "Maintained with periodic updates. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "district health", "mapping", "visualisation", "indicators" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "who-india", "name": "WHO India and Global Health Estimates", "short_name": "WHO India", "publisher": "World Health Organization", "url": "https://www.who.int/india", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Global & Comparative" ], "publisher_type": "Multilateral / International", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Country office reporting on India, joint WHO and UNICEF immunisation coverage estimates, tuberculosis and malaria country profiles, and global health expenditure database entries for India.", "use_it_for": "WHO-UNICEF immunisation estimates are the internationally accepted coverage figures and differ from Indian administrative coverage; the gap is analytically interesting.", "caveats": "WHO estimates are modelled and adjusted; they will not match HMIS administrative coverage. Explain the difference rather than choosing.", "latest_status": "Continuous. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "WUENIC", "immunisation", "TB profile", "health expenditure", "WHO India" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "tcpd", "name": "Trivedi Centre for Political Data", "short_name": "TCPD", "publisher": "Ashoka University", "url": "https://tcpd.ashoka.edu.in/", "domains": [ "Democracy & Elections", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Academic / Research", "granularity": [ "Constituency", "Member", "Party" ], "time_span": "1951–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "CSV", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A family of political datasets beyond Lok Dhaba: Members of Parliament biographical and career data, the Indian Political Party Database, Surveys of the Political Elite, and constituency-level socio-economic linkages.", "use_it_for": "For questions about who actually holds political office in India: dynasty, occupation, education, caste and career pathways of legislators.", "caveats": "Biographical data is compiled from public sources of varying quality; caste attribution in particular involves inference.", "latest_status": "Datasets updated after each election cycle. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "MPs", "political elite", "dynasty", "party database", "legislators" ], "finest_level": "Block or constituency", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "pib-factcheck", "name": "Fact-checking and Misinformation Datasets", "short_name": "Fact-check resources", "publisher": "PIB Fact Check; Alt News; Boom; Factly", "url": "https://factly.in/", "domains": [ "Technology & Digital", "Youth & Society" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "2017–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Indian fact-checking organisations publishing verified claim databases, and Factly's data journalism archive which frequently reconstructs government datasets from parliamentary answers.", "use_it_for": "Factly's data stories are often the only accessible analysis of an obscure but important official dataset. Useful for teaching data literacy.", "caveats": "Fact-checking organisations have been subject to political contestation in India. Attribute carefully and prefer the primary evidence they cite.", "latest_status": "Continuous. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "misinformation", "fact check", "data journalism", "verification" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nsso-general", "name": "NSS Thematic Rounds: Health, Education, Disability, Drinking Water", "short_name": "NSS thematic rounds", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://microdata.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research", "Health & Nutrition", "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Household" ], "time_span": "1950s–present", "update_cadence": "Periodic by subject", "formats": [ "PDF", "CSV" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The NSS thematic programme covering household social consumption on health and on education, persons with disabilities, drinking water sanitation hygiene and housing, and multiple indicator surveys, each fielded periodically as a dedicated round.", "use_it_for": "These rounds give nationally representative estimates on out-of-pocket health spending, private tuition expenditure, disability prevalence and housing conditions that no administrative source provides.", "caveats": "Subject rounds recur irregularly, sometimes a decade apart. Definitional changes between rounds are common, so read the concepts and definitions chapter before comparing.", "latest_status": "Recent rounds catalogued on NADA; the Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey now carries several of these modules annually. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "NSS rounds", "out of pocket", "private tuition", "disability", "housing" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "cams", "name": "Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey", "short_name": "CAMS", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research", "Education & Skills", "Technology & Digital" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2022-23–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "An annual modular survey appended to PLFS fieldwork, covering education status, digital and financial literacy, access to devices and internet, migration and household amenities.", "use_it_for": "Fills the gap left by irregular NSS thematic rounds with annual estimates on digital access and educational participation, which matter a great deal for youth policy.", "caveats": "A young series with a modular design that varies year to year. Check which modules were fielded before assuming a variable exists.", "latest_status": "Successive annual rounds published. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "CAMS", "digital literacy", "internet access", "annual", "modular" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nsdl-pfrda", "name": "PFRDA and Pension Data", "short_name": "PFRDA", "publisher": "Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority", "url": "https://www.pfrda.org.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Work & Livelihoods" ], "publisher_type": "Regulator / Autonomous body", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Sector" ], "time_span": "2004–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "Subscriber and assets under management data for the National Pension System and the Atal Pension Yojana, disaggregated by sector, state, age and gender.", "use_it_for": "Atal Pension Yojana enrolment by state and gender is one of the few measures of old-age income security reaching informal workers.", "caveats": "Enrolment is not contribution continuity; a significant share of accounts become inactive.", "latest_status": "Monthly subscriber data continues. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "pensions", "NPS", "Atal Pension Yojana", "old age security" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "niti-aspirational", "name": "Aspirational Districts and Blocks Programme Dashboard", "short_name": "ADP / ABP", "publisher": "NITI Aayog", "url": "https://champions.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Health & Nutrition", "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "District", "Block" ], "time_span": "2018–present", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Monthly ranking of aspirational districts and blocks against indicators in health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water, financial inclusion and skilling, and basic infrastructure, with delta ranking on improvement rather than level.", "use_it_for": "A working example of competitive federalism instrumented with data, and a rich source of monthly sub-district administrative indicators.", "caveats": "Self-reported by district administrations with a strong ranking incentive, which creates well-documented reporting bias. Delta ranking rewards improvement from a low base.", "latest_status": "The Aspirational Blocks Programme extends the model to 500 blocks. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "aspirational districts", "delta ranking", "competitive federalism", "blocks" ], "finest_level": "Block or constituency", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "pgi", "name": "Performance Grading Index for School Education", "short_name": "PGI", "publisher": "Ministry of Education", "url": "https://pgi.udiseplus.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Education & Skills", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2017-18–present", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "A composite grading of state and district school education systems across outcomes, access, infrastructure, equity and governance domains, built largely on UDISE+ and NAS data.", "use_it_for": "Domain-level scores identify precisely which part of a state's school system is weak, which is more useful than the overall grade.", "caveats": "Built on self-reported UDISE+ data, so it inherits its reporting biases. Grade bands changed between editions.", "latest_status": "PGI 2.0 and the district-level PGI-D published annually. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "school education", "state grading", "PGI-D", "governance", "equity" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "gem", "name": "Government e-Marketplace and Public Procurement Data", "short_name": "GeM", "publisher": "Government e-Marketplace", "url": "https://gem.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Buyer", "Seller" ], "time_span": "2016–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open (aggregates)", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Public procurement transaction data: gross merchandise value, order counts, buyer and seller registration, participation by micro and small enterprises, women-led enterprises and startups, and category-wise procurement.", "use_it_for": "Procurement is one of the largest and least-studied levers of Indian industrial and social policy. MSE and women-owned enterprise participation shares are directly usable in inclusion arguments.", "caveats": "Aggregate dashboards only; contract-level data is not published openly. Gross merchandise value includes cancelled and modified orders in some reporting.", "latest_status": "Continues to grow; the Open Contracting India repository holds structured procurement extracts. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "procurement", "GeM", "MSE participation", "contracts", "public spending" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "niti-health-index", "name": "Healthy States Progressive India Health Index", "short_name": "NITI Health Index", "publisher": "NITI Aayog with MoHFW and World Bank", "url": "https://social.niti.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "State", "District" ], "time_span": "2017–present", "update_cadence": "Periodic", "formats": [ "PDF", "Web" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "A composite index ranking states on health outcomes, governance and information, and key inputs and processes, using a weighted indicator basket with both level and incremental performance scores.", "use_it_for": "The incremental performance score is the useful one: it identifies states improving fastest rather than states starting richest.", "caveats": "Indicator baskets have changed across rounds, limiting cross-round rank comparison.", "latest_status": "Successive rounds published. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "health index", "state ranking", "incremental performance", "health systems" ], "finest_level": "District", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "pmjay-hospitals", "name": "National Health Authority Hospital and Package Data", "short_name": "NHA Empanelment", "publisher": "National Health Authority", "url": "https://hospitals.pmjay.gov.in/", "domains": [ "Health & Nutrition", "Urban & Infrastructure" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "District", "Hospital" ], "time_span": "2018–present", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "A searchable directory of empanelled hospitals with location, specialties offered, public or private status and bed strength, plus the health benefit package master with procedure rates.", "use_it_for": "Hospital empanelment density per lakh population by district is a usable measure of effective service availability under publicly funded insurance.", "caveats": "Empanelment is not the same as active participation; some empanelled hospitals process very few claims.", "latest_status": "Directory updated continuously. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "empanelment", "hospitals", "package rates", "service availability" ], "finest_level": "Village, ward or site", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "sansad-committee", "name": "Parliamentary Standing Committee Reports", "short_name": "Committee reports", "publisher": "Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariats", "url": "https://sansad.in/", "domains": [ "Governance & Institutions", "Democracy & Elections" ], "publisher_type": "Constitutional body", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "1993–present", "update_cadence": "Per session", "formats": [ "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "Reports of departmentally related standing committees, the Public Accounts Committee, the Estimates Committee and select committees, containing ministry evidence, scheme-wise expenditure scrutiny, and recommendations with action-taken replies.", "use_it_for": "Ministries disclose to committees what they do not publish. Demand for Grants reports contain scheme-wise underspending explanations found nowhere else. This is the highest-value under-used policy source in India.", "caveats": "Recommendations are not binding; check the action-taken report for what was actually accepted. Reports are unstructured PDFs and hard to search at scale.", "latest_status": "Reports tabled each session and published on Digital Sansad. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "standing committee", "PAC", "demand for grants", "underspending", "scrutiny" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "niti-blogs-video", "name": "Explainer and Data Literacy Resources", "short_name": "Explainers", "publisher": "Various", "url": "https://www.dataforindia.com/", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Civil Society", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "Continuous", "update_cadence": "Continuous", "formats": [ "Web", "Video", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "A working set of explainer resources for anyone learning to use Indian data: Data For India's methodology notes, CEDA's data explainers, Factly's data stories, IndiaSpend's data journalism, and the MoSPI and NSS concepts and definitions chapters that define every official term.", "use_it_for": "Before you use an unfamiliar Indian statistic, read how it is constructed. The concepts and definitions chapter of the relevant NSS report is the single highest-return thirty minutes in Indian data work.", "caveats": "Secondary explainers can simplify. Always confirm against the official methodology document.", "latest_status": "Continuously published. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "data literacy", "methodology", "explainers", "concepts and definitions" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "mospi-release-calendar", "name": "MoSPI Advance Release Calendar", "short_name": "Release calendar", "publisher": "Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/release-calendar", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Governance & Institutions" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "Published each financial year", "update_cadence": "Annual, revised during the year", "formats": [ "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The forward schedule of every MoSPI data release for the financial year, with dates fixed in advance: monthly Consumer Price Index and Index of Industrial Production, monthly and quarterly PLFS bulletins, quarterly ASUSE bulletins, quarterly and annual GDP estimates, Annual Survey of Industries results, and the SDG National Indicator Framework progress report.", "use_it_for": "Planning. If you publish commentary, run a newsroom, brief a principal or manage a research calendar, this is the single document that tells you what is coming and when, so you can prepare before a release rather than react after it.", "caveats": "Dates shift when they fall on holidays and MoSPI states explicitly that they can change in exigencies. The calendar is revised mid-year, so an old copy will mislead. It covers only MoSPI releases: Census, NFHS, NCRB, UDISE+, AISHE and Reserve Bank publications follow their own schedules, and several of those have no published forward calendar at all.", "latest_status": "The 2026-27 calendar was updated on 25 May 2026. Notable dates in it include Annual Survey of Industries results for 2024-25 on 29 September 2026, First Advance Estimates of GDP for 2026-27 on 7 January 2027, and the PLFS annual report for calendar year 2026 with unit-level data on 25 March 2027. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "release calendar", "schedule", "MoSPI", "GDP", "CPI", "IIP", "PLFS", "planning" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nas-newseries", "name": "National Accounts, New Series (Base Year 2022-23)", "short_name": "New GDP series", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/publication/national-accounts-statistics", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2022-23 onwards (back series pending)", "update_cadence": "Quarterly and annual", "formats": [ "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's rebased national accounts, released on 27 February 2026, replacing the 2011-12 base with 2022-23. It carries annual and quarterly GDP and GVA estimates for 2022-23 through 2025-26, integrates Supply and Use Tables, adopts the COICOP 2018 classification, and draws on data sources that did not exist at the last revision: the refined MCA-21 frame of active companies, Limited Liability Partnership filings, ASUSE and PLFS.", "use_it_for": "Anything about the current size, structure or growth of the Indian economy. The new series captures the household and unincorporated sector through annual survey inputs rather than extrapolation, which is a real improvement for anyone writing about informal enterprise or MSMEs.", "caveats": "There is no continuous long series yet. Comparable back-series estimates were expected around December 2026, so until they arrive you cannot splice new-series numbers onto old-series numbers to make a chart running from 2011-12 to today. Rebasing also moves every ratio expressed against GDP. Debt to GDP, fiscal deficit to GDP, tax to GDP and health spending to GDP all shift when the denominator is restated, with no change whatsoever in the underlying rupee amounts. Check which series a published ratio was computed on before you quote it.", "latest_status": "The new series on a 2022-23 base was released on 27 February 2026. Provisional estimates for 2025-26 followed on 5 June 2026, and first-quarter 2026-27 growth was put at 7.8 per cent on 31 August 2026. MoSPI has said the first-quarter figure can only be compared with the new-series estimate for a year earlier, not the old one. The back series was expected by December 2026, and Q2 estimates are due on 30 November 2026.", "tags": [ "GDP", "GVA", "national accounts", "base year", "2022-23", "rebasing", "growth", "back series" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "cpi-newseries", "name": "Consumer Price Index, New Series (Base 2024=100)", "short_name": "New CPI series", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/data", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2024 onwards", "update_cadence": "Monthly, released on the 12th", "formats": [ "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's headline retail inflation measure, rebased in February 2026 from 2012=100 to 2024=100, with a revised item basket and revised weights reflecting how household consumption has actually shifted. Published for rural, urban and combined, with the Consumer Food Price Index alongside.", "use_it_for": "The deflator for almost any real-terms claim, and the number that anchors monetary policy debate. State-level series matter more than most people realise, because food weights and inflation experience differ sharply across states.", "caveats": "The weight revision is not cosmetic. Because food carries a very high weight in the Indian basket, changing food's share changes the headline number without anything changing in the shops. Comparing a post-rebasing inflation rate against a pre-rebasing one is comparing two different baskets. Also note that CPI-IW, published separately by the Labour Bureau for industrial workers, is a different index on a different base and is what dearness allowance is actually indexed to.", "latest_status": "New series on base 2024=100 released 12 February 2026. Monthly releases continue on the 12th, moved to a 4 pm publication time. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "CPI", "inflation", "base year", "2024", "food prices", "deflator", "rebasing" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "cms-modular", "name": "Comprehensive Modular Survey and Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey", "short_name": "CMS and CAMS", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/publication", "domains": [ "Microdata & Research", "Technology & Digital", "Education & Skills" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "2022-23 onwards", "update_cadence": "Annual, with short-duration modules", "formats": [ "PDF", "Microdata" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": true, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "A newer NSS instrument built for speed. Short, modular surveys attached to an annual household round, covering topics that used to wait years for a dedicated NSS round: ICT access and use, digital skills, mobile and internet ownership, education and training participation, migration particulars, and health insurance coverage.", "use_it_for": "The fastest official route to household-level questions on digital access, skilling and education participation. For anyone working on youth, employability or the digital divide, this now answers questions that previously required either an old NSS round or a private survey.", "caveats": "Modules rotate, so a topic covered one year may not appear the next, which makes trend construction difficult. The instrument is young, so definitional wording is still settling and early rounds should not be treated as a stable series. Sample sizes for individual modules are smaller than for the flagship rounds, which limits how far you can disaggregate.", "latest_status": "Introduced as part of MoSPI's push to shorten survey turnaround. Reported release timelines are now roughly 90 to 120 days for annual results, 45 to 60 for quarterly and 15 to 30 for monthly, against eight to nine months previously, achieved through computer assisted personal interviewing and the e-SIGMA platform. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "CMS", "CAMS", "modular survey", "digital skills", "ICT", "NSS", "migration", "microdata" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "nhis-2026", "name": "National Household Income Survey 2026", "short_name": "NHIS 2026", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/National-Household-Income-Survey-2026", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Work & Livelihoods", "Microdata & Research" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State", "Rural/Urban" ], "time_span": "First round, in field through 2026", "update_cadence": "First round", "formats": [ "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's first pan-India official survey designed to measure household income directly, rather than inferring living standards from consumption. It records earnings by source: wages and salaries, self-employment, agriculture, property, remittances and government transfers, with specific attention to informal sector earnings and to how technology is changing what people earn.", "use_it_for": "When it reports, this becomes the reference series for income distribution and for the income side of poverty analysis, and an input to rebasing the price indices. Until then it is the most important thing on the Indian data horizon after Census 2027, and the draft schedule is worth reading now if your work touches income measurement.", "caveats": "Nothing has been published yet, so there is no NHIS number to cite. Income surveys are hard everywhere: respondents understate, the top of the distribution refuses, and the reference period for irregular earnings is contested. MoSPI has itself called it among the toughest surveys it has attempted. Pre-testing found the detailed household schedule took about 100 minutes per household, which tells you something about both burden and likely non-response.", "latest_status": "Field operations began in April 2026, covering roughly 4.5 lakh households across all states and union territories. The Technical Expert Group is chaired by Dr Surjit S. Bhalla. Pre-testing ran across 15 NSO regional offices in August 2025 and the draft schedule was opened for public consultation in October 2025. Results are expected around mid-2027. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "income", "household income", "NHIS", "inequality", "poverty", "MoSPI", "NSS", "forthcoming" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "ppi-wpi", "name": "Producer Price Index and Wholesale Price Index", "short_name": "PPI and WPI", "publisher": "Office of the Economic Adviser, DPIIT, and MoSPI", "url": "https://eaindustry.nic.in/", "domains": [ "Economy & Public Finance", "Trade & Industry" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National" ], "time_span": "WPI from 1942; PPI from 2026", "update_cadence": "Monthly", "formats": [ "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "India's producer-side price measurement, in the middle of a generational change. The Wholesale Price Index has been the standard deflator and the headline wholesale inflation number for decades. A Producer Price Index covering both goods and services was published for the first time in June 2026 and is intended to replace it.", "use_it_for": "Deflating nominal series, tracking input cost pressure ahead of retail inflation, and any sectoral cost analysis. The services coverage in the PPI is new and fills a gap the WPI never addressed, since WPI covered goods only.", "caveats": "This is a transition, and transitions break series. WPI and PPI are not the same index, cover different baskets and are not spliceable. Until the WPI is retired the two will run in parallel, so state which one you used. Note also that WPI is not a consumer inflation measure: it excludes services and retail margins, which is why WPI and CPI can move in opposite directions for months at a time.", "latest_status": "Producer Price Index data for goods and services was released for the first time on 15 June 2026, with an announcement that WPI will be discontinued and replaced by PPI over roughly five years. The WPI base year revision to 2022-23 is also in progress, and the existing WPI continues as the deflator in the meantime. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "PPI", "WPI", "wholesale price", "producer price", "inflation", "deflator", "transition" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "iip-newseries", "name": "Index of Industrial Production, New Series (Base 2022-23)", "short_name": "New IIP series", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/iip", "domains": [ "Trade & Industry", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "Sector" ], "time_span": "2022-23 onwards", "update_cadence": "Monthly, released on the 28th", "formats": [ "XLSX", "PDF" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "The monthly volume index of industrial output across mining, manufacturing and electricity, with a use-based classification into primary, capital, intermediate, infrastructure, consumer durable and consumer non-durable goods. Rebased in 2026 from 2011-12 to 2022-23.", "use_it_for": "The fastest read on industrial momentum, and the use-based cut is more informative than the headline: capital goods and infrastructure goods say more about investment than the aggregate does.", "caveats": "It measures volume, not value or profitability, and its item basket is fixed between rebasings, so it drifts away from what industry actually produces as the decade wears on. Monthly figures are heavily revised, and a first print should be treated as provisional. As with GDP and CPI, the new base means the series does not run continuously back to 2011-12 yet.", "latest_status": "The new series on base 2022-23 was released on 28 May 2026, completing the trio of base revisions alongside CPI in February and national accounts in February 2026. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "IIP", "industrial production", "manufacturing", "base year", "2022-23", "use-based" ], "finest_level": "National", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "asisse", "name": "Annual Survey of Incorporated Service Sector Enterprises", "short_name": "ASISSE", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/publication", "domains": [ "Trade & Industry", "Economy & Public Finance" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "First round, 2026", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": false, "what_it_is": "A new annual survey of incorporated service sector companies, built to do for services what the Annual Survey of Industries does for factories: a structured, repeated read on output, employment and value added in the part of the economy that dominates India's output but has historically been measured largely by inference.", "use_it_for": "Sizing and tracking the formal services economy, and improving the input base for national accounts on the services side. Useful context for any argument about services-led growth or the gap between services output and services employment.", "caveats": "Incorporated enterprises only, so it excludes the unincorporated services covered by ASUSE and the far larger informal services economy. As a first round it has no time series, and estimates from a new survey frame should be read as provisional.", "latest_status": "Launched in 2026 alongside NHIS, covering more than 1.21 lakh companies. Entry checked September 2026. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "services", "GDP", "enterprises", "ASISSE", "MoSPI", "new survey" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" }, { "id": "energy-statistics", "name": "Energy Statistics India", "short_name": "Energy Statistics India", "publisher": "National Statistical Office, MoSPI", "url": "https://www.mospi.gov.in/publication", "domains": [ "Energy", "Climate & Environment" ], "publisher_type": "Union Government", "granularity": [ "National", "State" ], "time_span": "Annual series, 33 editions", "update_cadence": "Annual", "formats": [ "PDF", "XLSX" ], "access": "Open", "has_api": false, "has_microdata": false, "essential": true, "what_it_is": "The consolidated annual account of India's energy system: reserves and assessed potential, installed capacity, production, imports, consumption by end-use sector and energy prices, harmonised across coal, oil, gas, electricity and renewables so the fuels can be compared on a common basis.", "use_it_for": "The reference volume for any energy or climate argument that needs consistent national numbers rather than fuel-by-fuel ministry releases. It is also the source for assessed renewable potential by state.", "caveats": "Potential is not capacity and capacity is not generation. The 2026 edition reports a very large jump in assessed solar potential over the previous year, which reflects a revised assessment methodology rather than new resource appearing. Compare like for like across editions and read the methodology note before quoting growth.", "latest_status": "The 33rd edition, Energy Statistics India 2026, was released in March 2026 with data to 31 March 2025. It puts assessed solar potential at roughly 33.4 lakh megawatt, about 71 per cent of total renewable potential, with more than 70 per cent of national potential in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Entry checked September 2026.", "tags": [ "energy", "renewables", "solar", "coal", "electricity", "MoSPI", "annual" ], "finest_level": "State", "access_tier": "Open" } ] }