Indian government rejects Subhash Garg's 2.6% Q1 GDP calculation
The Indian government has pushed back against former finance secretary Subhash Garg's claim that India's GDP grew just 2.6% in Q1 of fiscal 2027, not the official 7.8%.
Officials say his calculation doesn't add up, since he mixed up old and new data sets, making the comparison "statistically meaningless."
They also pointed out that the GDP deflator is neither the CPI nor the WPI, and that "The new series does not take total nominal GDP and divide it by one conveniently selected inflation rate."
Ministry of Statistics defends 7.8% growth
The Ministry of Statistics says its 7.8% figure is solid, based on consistent methods from the latest series.
In Q1 of fiscal 2027, nominal GDP was actually up by 10.3%, with real GDP rising from ₹75.46 lakh crore to ₹81.36 lakh crore.
While Congress accused the government of inflating numbers, officials dismissed this as baseless and highlighted that the new series applies granular indices to different items and sectors, with manufacturing now using double deflation.