India’s statistics ministry has defended its revised first-quarter GDP figures, emphasising that methodological changes, including a shift to a new base year, do not artificially inflate growth data amid reports of potential manipulation.
India’s statistics ministry has rejected claims that a revision to last year’s first-quarter GDP figures was designed to flatter the latest growth reading. In an FAQ, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said the comparison being circulated was invalid because the economy is now being measured under a new national accounts series with 2022-23 as the base year, rather than the old 2011-12 reference year.
The ministry said the earlier figure of Rs 86.05 lakh crore for April-June 2025 was first published under the old series, then recalculated after the shift to the new methodology. Under the revised series, the same quarter was initially placed at Rs 80.32 lakh crore, later nudged to Rs 80.44 lakh crore and then adjusted again to Rs 80 lakh crore as fresh industrial data became available. It said those changes reflected updates in data sources, coverage and methodology, not an attempt to make current-year growth look stronger.
According to the ministry, quarterly GDP is built using benchmark indicators, meaning the movement in the estimate is tied to a broad set of high-frequency measures rather than a single headline figure. Those indicators include crop output, cement production, finished steel use and commercial vehicle sales. The ministry argued that revising a prior benchmark does not, by itself, create artificial growth in the current quarter.
The dispute comes as India reported real GDP growth of 7.8% in the April-June 2026 quarter, beating expectations and easing concerns about a sharper slowdown. Economic reports said the expansion was supported by a 9.2% rise in manufacturing, a 10% increase in services and an 11.9% gain in gross fixed capital formation, a sign of stronger investment. The latest figures also follow the February 2026 overhaul of the national accounts, when the base year was changed to 2022-23 and the new series put full-year growth for 2025-26 at 7.6%.
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