Economic Impact Studies of Pressure and Vacuum Metrology at CSIR-NPL, India

Abstract

Measurement standards and metrological activities provide scientific and metrological infrastructure in the country. The Pressure and Vacuum Metrology (PVM) activity has a major role in national and international metrological research and development. The PVM group is successfully providing national calibration and measurement services and fulfilling its national duty as per the mandate of CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL). Since last 35 years, no significant efforts were made to assess socio-economic impact of the services provided. Such impact studies are carried out by several National Metrology Institutes, but in India it is still an unexplored area so far. This motivated us to carry out the impact assessment, and present paper is an attempt made in this direction. Systematic studies of the contribution of PVM, established at CSIR-NPL, on national industrial growth and economy, are carried out by assessment of impact. The aim of the present paper is to present the summary of the results thus obtained which is based on the investment made over the years and the estimated benefits to the users. The studies are based on some industrial survey, personal interviews and interactions with stakeholders and sampling of services provided over the years. An overall social rate of return, an indicator of system efficiency, is found to be 180% which is quite high as compared to the present rate of return (8%). This indicates that the PVM activity is quite efficient, and future investment in the activity is safe and would provide excellent returns. The studies are very useful for broader understanding of the economic benefits of PVM and to improve understanding of the decision and policy makers about the relevance, continuation and further investment in PVM activity. This present case study may be explored and applied for other metrological fields also.