The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) is an independent private limited entity that serves both as an economic think-tank as well as a business information company.

CMIE provides this information in the form of databases and research reports via a subscription-based business model.

[3] It began as an information organisation cum Think Tank that helped the business community gain access to economic data and to understand the underlying trends.

It presented these with useful pithy observations of the trends which reflected Shah's studious understanding of the Indian economy.

The service included a Monthly Review of the Indian Economy and reference volumes such as Basic Statistics Relating to Indian Economy I & II and Key Financial Data of Larger Business Units and special occasional documents such as Profiles of Districts[5] and Shape of Things to Come.

After a few years at CMIE he moved on to a career in academics and public policy work in IGIDR and then Ministry of Finance.

Competitor monitoring, analytical company reports, content delivery, spot commodity price polling, and the collection of industry statistics are also offered.

[14][15] According to CMIE, India has never tracked and published monthly, quarterly or yearly employment and unemployment data for its people.

CMIE, a non-government private entity, started to survey and publish monthly unemployment data for the first time in Indian history in 2016.

But, the operations scaled up substantially in the 1990s as the business databases industry grew rapidly and became intensely competitive.

CMIE's first foray into offering its enterprises database – CIMM (Corporate Information on Magnetic Media) in the late 1980s[18] was quickly beaten by competition in the early 1990s.

The second proprietary database from CMIE is CapEx which tracks the life cycle of new investment projects from their announcement through their conclusion.

CapEx was launched in 1997 but has its antecedents in CMIE's Shape of Things to Come compilation created by DJ Unakar in the 1970s.

CPHS collects data on household member details such as age, gender, religion, caste, education, occupation, employment status, financial inclusion and income.