National Sample Survey (NSS)

NIC 2025: The National Industrial Classification (NIC) 2025 is a fundamental tool used in statistical surveys, censuses, economic research, and policy formulation.
- It groups businesses and activities into structured categories so data can be collected, compared, and analysed consistently across the country.
- India’s classification system, introduced in 1962 and later updated as NIC 1970, 1987, 1990, 1998, 2004 and 2008, has now been comprehensively revised to reflect the country’s evolving economic structure.
- The NIC 2025 is in line with International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) Revision 5, developed by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).

The NSS was established in 1950 on the recommendation of the National Income Committee (1949), chaired by Professor P.C. Mahalanobis, which had identified major gaps in socio-economic data in the country.
NSS is headed by a Director General, it conducts large-scale sample surveys across India on socio-economic subjects, including household surveys, Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), and rural–urban price collection.
- It supports improvement of crop statistics by supervising area enumeration and crop estimation surveys of State agencies.
The NSS has Four Divisions:
- Survey Design and Research Division (SDRD), Kolkata.
- Field Operations Division (FOD), Delhi/Faridabad.
- Data Processing Division (DPD), Kolkata.
- Survey Coordination Division (SCD), New Delhi.

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