Opinion | Nailing The 'Statistical Lies' Of Subhash Garg On GDP

The 7.8% print is not an isolated instance. It follows a 7.7% GDP growth witnessed in FY26, which itself was an acceleration from the 7.1% growth seen in FY25

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That the Indian economy is alive and kicking is the unmistakable signal from India’s 7.8% real GDP growth in the April–June quarter of 2026 (1QFY27). India remains the world’s fastest-growing major economy; China grew 4.3% and the USA 2.1% in the same quarter. The 7.8% number arrived against a backdrop of global oil-price spikes, supply-chain friction from the West Asia conflict and lingering trade uncertainty internationally. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a “herculean feat" and added that “doomsayers were doomed and India bloomed yet again." Real GDP at constant 2022–23 prices rose to Rs 81.36 lakh crore from Rs 75.46 lakh crore a year earlier. Nominal GDP grew 10.3% to Rs 88.27 lakh crore. Real GVA, a measure of underlying activity, expanded 8.2% and Nominal GVA by 11.5%. Don’t forget, the 7.8% print is not an isolated instance. It follows a 7.7% GDP growth witnessed in FY26, which itself was an acceleration from the 7.1% growth seen in FY25.

This 7.8% number is not a one-quarter fluke. It is the compounding result of a policy architecture built since 2014 based on greater formalisation, infrastructure-led crowding-in of private capital, targeted industrial policy and fiscal consolidation that protected investment even while shrinking the deficit. That enabling architecture is the essence of Modinomics. How is it that some beleaguered minds are saying that the 7.8% growth is actually “2.6% only"? Well, the “2.6%" figure comes from comparing Rs 88.3 lakh crore under the new GDP series with Rs 86.1 lakh crore from the earlier series. They belong to different series, so the comparison isn’t like-for-like. Only like for like makes sense and anyone (Subhash Garg) doing otherwise, is being fraudulent with the very concepts of basic arithmetic.

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For an accurate comparison, numbers calculated using the same base and the same series must be compared. That means Rs 80.0 lakh crore should be compared versus Rs 88.3 lakh crore, which works out to 10.3% nominal GDP growth. Why did India’s GDP series undergo a revision? It wasn’t a sudden rewrite of the economy. India moved to a new GDP series, incorporating updated estimates and new data as it became available. From the old series to the revised data, the numbers evolved with better measurement. Revisions don’t automatically mean numbers are being lowered. SBI Research found that during the FY22–FY25 period, 25 quarterly revisions were upward compared with 12 downward, showing that revised estimates are a routine feature of economic measurement. So why the noise about revisions? Don’t forget, most developed economies routinely revise numbers upwards or downwards as the case may be and also routinely change the “Base Year", every three........

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