For years, critics have said India’s GDP figures were overly optimistic. But new methodology shows allegations that the government has been flattering growth were unfounded, according to the statistics chief of the world’s fastest-growing large economy.
Some economists, including a former central bank governor, have said the previous real growth figures were flattered by the use of a low deflator.
But Saurabh Garg, a career civil servant who was brought in two years ago by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to overhaul the national statistics ministry, said the reformed methodology showed growth was actually higher than previously reported for two of the past three fiscal years. The new methodology takes account of inflation differently and uses additional data sources.