Former Finance Secretary Alleges $63.5 Billion GDP Manipulation in India's 7.8% Growth Figures
India reported a 7.8% economic expansion for the June quarter, yet a former government finance secretary claims the data was artificially inflated by revising prior year figures downward. Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageshwaran disputes the accusation of cherry-picking data.
India's gross domestic product for the April-June quarter of 2025 grew at 7.8%, outpacing the cooling trends in the U.S., China, and Japan. However, this rapid expansion faces scrutiny after Subhash Chandra Garg, a former finance secretary from 2017 to 2019, alleged the figure was distorted by artificially lowering last year's data. Garg stated that India's GDP for the comparison period of 2024 was reduced by approximately 6 trillion rupees ($63.5 billion) from its previous record of 80 trillion rupees to a revised total of 80 trillion, which would make the current quarter of 88.27 trillion rupees appear stronger year-over-year. V Anantha Nageshwaran, India's chief economic advisor, rejected these claims in an interview with local media on Thursday. He characterized the allegation as cherry-picking data and explained that the statistics were recalculated using a new base financial year ending March 2023. This methodological shift caused revisions to last year's quarterly numbers, potentially resulting in some figures being increased while others decreased.
