Picture : ANI/X
Congress has questioned the government’s claim that India’s economy grew by 7.8% in the April-June 2026 quarter, raising concerns over revisions to previous years’ GDP figures, inflation estimates and the performance of manufacturing and private consumption.
In a statement released by Congress General Secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh, he argued that a closer examination of the numbers raised questions about the basis of the calculation.
He argued that reducing the base against which the current year’s growth is measured can make the growth rate appear significantly higher even if there has been no corresponding change in the underlying economic activity.
Our statement on the growing evidence of irregularities in the just-released GDP figures. The Modi Government must answer 4 straight questions pic.twitter.com/JTOcRPusXS
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 3, 2026
Citing former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg’s remarks on the same, Ramesh said that if the base-year figure had not been revised down, nominal growth in the quarter would have been closer to 2.6%, rather than the 10.3% claimed by the government. He further claimed that after adjusting for inflation, real growth would be close to zero.
Ramesh also raised questions over revisions to GDP estimates for the four years since 2022-23. He said the “new series” had reduced the nominal GDP figure for every year compared with the earlier estimates.
According to his statement, the reduction was between Rs.8 lakh crore and Rs.12 lakh crore for each of the four years, amounting to a combined downward revision of Rs.43 lakh crore.
The party said the revision was a major “correction” and questioned how such a large reduction in the estimated size of the Indian economy had resulted from a change in methodology. –
