Pronab Sen urges NSO publish old and new GDP series
India's former Chief Statistician, Pronab Sen, thinks the National Statistics Office (NSO) should publish two sets of GDP numbers, one with the old base and one with the new, for at least five years.
This suggestion comes after a lot of confusion around recent changes to how India calculates its GDP, including the launch of the new GDP series in February this year with 2022-23 as the base year.
Subhash Garg questions 7.8% growth
Sen says using both methods side by side would help people see how much the numbers really change depending on how they're calculated.
He also pointed out that "double deflation," a more detailed way to measure growth, only works if there's enough price data.
The debate got louder after former finance secretary Subhash Garg raised doubts about India's reported 7.8% growth, since recent revisions made older numbers look smaller.
The government now plans to release updated historical data by December 2026 so everyone can compare apples to apples.