India State and District Economic Output Estimates Using Night-Time Light Data

16633 entries provide a unified series of gross output estimates for Indian states and districts from 1992 to 2023. This dataset uses Night-time Light (NTL) data as a proxy to measure economic growth and predict Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP). It is designed to address gaps in high-frequency economic data for analyzing subnational regional disparities in India.

Use Cases

• Predicting Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) based on Night-time Light (NTL) data as a proxy
• Estimating Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP) for substate-level economic analysis
• Analyzing regional economic disparities in India over a 31-year time series
• Measuring high-frequency economic activity where conventional data is lacking

Strengths

• Covers a 31-year time range from 1992 to 2023
• Provides estimates at both state and district levels for granular subnational analysis
• Uses a novel proxy (Night-time Light data) to address gaps in conventional economic data
• Released under a permissive CC-BY-4.0 license

Limitations

• Column names and a precise row count are not provided in the available metadata
• The dataset's size is given as 16633, but it is unclear if this refers to rows, files, or another unit
• Economic estimates are derived from a proxy (NTL data), not direct official measurements

Provenance

Source

Heena S. Gaude and Pranab Mukhopadhyay, Goa Business School, Goa University

Collection Method

Estimates generated using Night-time Light (NTL) data as a proxy for economic activity

Time Range

1992-2023

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-03-22

Geography

India, at state and district levels