India’s Congress party challenges the government’s latest GDP data, arguing that revisions and statistical tricks mask a weaker economic reality amidst claims of rapid expansion.
Congress on Wednesday sharpened its attack on Narendra Modi’s government over India’s latest growth figures, arguing that the headline GDP number masks a weaker underlying economy. Jairam Ramesh, the party’s communications chief, said the government should accept economic reality rather than rely on what he called polished statistics and public relations, after sharing remarks by former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg.
Ramesh said Garg had effectively punctured the administration’s claim of rapid expansion by arguing that a revision to last year’s GDP base had lifted the current year’s first-quarter growth rate. In the clip circulating online, Garg said the change made growth look stronger than it would have been otherwise. Ramesh claimed the true pace of expansion was closer to 2.6 per cent than the reported 7.8 per cent, and argued that the government should focus on jobs, private investment, demand and incomes rather than celebrating the numbers.
Pawan Khera, who heads the Congress media and publicity department, echoed that criticism and said Garg’s comments matched what many households are experiencing: higher prices, weaker purchasing power, subdued savings and limited job creation. Khera also questioned why last year’s figures were revised and asked for a clearer explanation of the methodology behind the latest data.
Government-linked sources, however, have rejected Garg’s comparison as flawed, saying it mixes figures from different statistical series and is therefore not a valid way to infer growth. Indian media reports said the official view is that the 2.6 per cent figure is statistically meaningless, while fact-checking coverage has also said Garg’s method does not reflect the government’s reported 7.8 per cent growth rate. India’s economy expanded by 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter, easing from 8.6 per cent in the previous three months but still beating expectations, and Modi described the result as a “herculean feat”.
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