The National Statistical Commission (NSC) is an autonomous, empowered advisory body (institution) established by a Government of India resolution dated 1 June 2005. Its creation was a central recommendation of the Commission on Statistics, chaired by C. Rangarajan, which submitted its report in September 2001. The NSC became operational on 12 July 2006. It was formed to address the erosion of the Indian statistical system and to serve as a nodal body to enhance the credibility and timeliness of official statistics.
The NSC functions as a non-statutory entity, meaning it was created by an executive order rather than an Act of Parliament. Its mechanism involves evolving national policies, setting national quality standards for socio-economic indices, and conducting statistical audits over data compilation systems. The Commission is a part-time body comprising a Chairperson, four Members, and the CEO of NITI Aayog as an ex-officio Member. The Chief Statistician of India, who is also the Secretary of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), serves as the Secretary to the Commission.
The NSC is administratively anchored to MoSPI and oversees the work of the National Statistical Office (NSO), which was formed in 2019 by merging the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). While the Collection of Statistics Act of 2008 governs data collection, the NSC's advisory nature has been a point of debate. Recently, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved new appointments on 17 June 2026, including Dr. Saibal Chattopadhyay as Chairperson, reconstituting the body. The debate over its non-statutory status continues, with MoSPI releasing a draft National Statistical Commission Bill in 2020 to propose making it a statutory body.