The Reserve Bank of India has a long history of compiling and disseminating macro-economic time series on various sectors of the Indian economy for researchers, market participants and various other stakeholders. Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy is a flagship publication by the Reserve Bank releasing historical data on a wide range of financial and economic indicators. This publication is being brought out in various forms, viz., in hard copy print form, CD version, and on internet through the Bank’s website (www.rbi.org.in) as well as on Database on Indian Economy (DBIE): Reserve Bank’s Data Warehouse site (http://dbie.rbi.org.in). Tables of this publication are also updated on a continuous basis and made available on the Reserve Bank’s Data Warehouse platform without waiting for the publication.

2. So far, the practice has been to issue this publication in print and CD-ROM. I am happy to note that the near real-time updating of Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy has been well received all over the world by internet users as reflected from substantial increase in number of visitors to the Reserve Bank’s Data Warehouse site since hosting of Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy on DBIE platform.

3. With a sense of responsibility towards the environment, the coverage of data in hard copy version has been restricted to the latest time periods, while the longer historical data series have been provided in the CD-ROM released with the print copy.

4. I trust users will find this Handbook and the online dissemination useful. We will continue to strive for improvement in the coverage, content and timely dissemination of data. We welcome your feedback.

September 15, 2011