India needs to align the sustainable development goals with its target of becoming a developed economy by 2047, Saurabh Garg, secretary, ministry of statistics and programme implementation said on August 16.

The secretary noted that India’s coverage of SDG indicators had improved over the past five years, with the ministry tracking 95 percent of the indicators in 2024 compared with 55 percent in 2019, at the “Review of Milestone Setting for SDGs National Indicators" consultation organised by MoSPI.

The consultation was to take stock of the SDG targets and sensitise ministries to the developments ahead of the 2025 Comprehensive Review of the SDGs Global Indicator Framework.

NK Santoshi, the recently appointed Director General (Statistics) emphasised the importance of timely and high-quality data.

India is a member of the United Nation’s Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) for 2023-2025 and will be part of the 2025 review discussions on SDG indicators.

Santoshi requested departments to go through the milestone setting process keeping in view the national priorities.