The Statistics Ministry is adding Artificial Intelligence to its work. AI chatbots will be used in important surveys. This will give policymakers correct and current data. The Capex survey now has an AI chatbot. New surveys are coming, and old ones are being updated. A household income survey will start in February 2026.
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The statistics ministry is integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its operations, with AI-enabled chatbots becoming part of key surveys, to provide accurate and up-to-date data to policymakers to help them make evidence-based policy decisions, the minister said.
"To facilitate self-compilation by enterprises in the web-portal based Capex survey, an AI-powered chatbot has been integrated into the portal," Rao Inderjit Singh, minister of state (independent charge) for statistics and programme implementation, told ET. "This chatbot assists respondents by providing guidance on the concepts used across various sections of the survey questionnaire," he explained. The Capex survey tracks capital expenditure trends of private enterprises.
The ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) uses AI and machine learning-enabled chatbots for the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) as well. It is also introducing new surveys and updating existing ones to better reflect present-day economic and social realities, Singh said. The idea is to leverage technology to provide timely data to help the government bring in policies to improve quality of life of Indians and realise Viksit Bharat 2047.
A pilot study on the unincorporated construction sector is scheduled for July- December, while a Household Income Survey will be launched from February 2026 to estimate the average income of rural and urban households, the minister said.
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The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) methodology was revamped in January. Under the new framework, reports are released monthly, with rural data included in quarterly releases. Annual reports will follow the calendar year rather than the earlier July-June cycle.
"The updated PLFS design will allow (with state participation) generation of annual district level estimates for most districts across India. It is also planned to release ASUSE results quarterly instead of annually," Singh said.
The MoSPI is set to launch two new surveys from July - National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) and Domestic Tourism Expenditure Survey (DTES).
NHTS aims to assess the spatial origin destination matrix for different transportation modes and influencing factors affecting the mode, destination choice, the price elasticity of travel demand by mode. The railway ministry and the government will use this data for transport planning, Singh said. DTES will gather information on trip purpose, mode of transport, accommodation, final destination within the country, and tourism-related expenditure.
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