The National Statistical Commission (NSC) was set up in 2005 to serve as a nodal body for all core statistical activities of the country, to evolve, monitor and enforce statistical priorities and standards and to ensure statistical co-ordination. The Commission consists of a part-time Chairperson, four part-time Members having specialization and experience in areas of statistics, and the CEO, NITI Aayog as an ex-officio Member. Secretary, MoSPI is the Secretary to the NSC.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of the Chairman and Members of the National Statistical Commission as follows:

1. Dr. Saibal Chattopadhyay, Chairperson
2. Prof. Shubhabrata Das, Member
3. Shri Satyendra Bahadur Singh, Member
4. Dr. Madhavan Mukund, Member

Dr. Saibal Chattopadhyay is former Director of Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata. He holds a Ph.D in Statistics and also MS in Statistics from University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA and MSc and BSc in Statistics from Calcutta University. His area of specialization includes Sequential methods in estimation, and in selection and ranking problems; Inference on finite population and survey sampling; Multi-stage sampling methods in environmental health and in clinical studies and Quantitative techniques in advanced marketing research.

Prof. Shubhabrata Das is a Professor in Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He holds a Ph.D. and MS in Statistics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and M.Stat and B.Stat from Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. His area of specialization includes statistics, operational research, actuarial mathematics, fuzzy data analysis, measurement and scaling, applications in management, social, environment and other disciplines.

Shri Satyendra Bahadur Singh, is a retired Officer of the Indian Statistical Service, 1987 batch with a career spanning more than three decades in the Government of India, having extensive experience in Official Statistics, Economic statistics, labour and employment statistics, policy support, training, and administration.

Dr. Madhavan Mukund, is Director, Chennai Mathematical Institute. He has a PhD in Computer Science, Aarhus University, Denmark and B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

The National Statistical Commission is responsible for evolving national policies and priorities relating to the statistical system, measures for improving public trust in official statistics and standard statistical concepts, definitions, classifications, methodologies in different areas in statistics, laying down national quality standards on core statistics and recommending measures to effectively implement the standards. The functions of NSC also include evolving measures for effective co-ordination with State Governments and Union Territory Administrations on statistical activities as well as statistical co-ordination between Ministries, Departments and other agencies of the Central Government and undertaking statistical audit over the statistical activities to ensure quality and integrity of the statistical products. The Commission monitors and review the functioning of the statistical system in the light of the laid down policies, standards and methodologies and recommend measures for enhanced performance.

Statistical governance and coordination strengthened through appointments to the National Statistical Commission and its standard-setting role. Appointment of the Chairperson and Members of the National Statistical Commission was approved, with Dr. Saibal Chattopadhyay as Chairperson and three Members appointed. The Commission is a nodal body for core statistical activities, responsible for statistical priorities, standards and coordination. Its functions include standardising concepts, definitions, classifications and methodologies, improving public trust in official statistics, laying down quality standards, coordinating with governments and ministries, undertaking statistical audit, and monitoring the statistical system for performance improvement.