Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh. File
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
The Congress on Thursday (September 3, 2026) posed four questions to the Narendra Modi government over the latest GDP estimates, seeking an explanation for a cumulative downward revision of ₹43 lakh crore in the estimated size of the Indian economy over the past four years and questioning the methodology used to calculate real growth.
In a statement, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh asked why GDP estimates for all four years since 2022-23 had been revised substantially downwards, what components of the new methodology had driven the changes, who had been consulted in framing it and why the deflator used for calculating real GDP appeared to understate the impact of inflation.
“How has a change in methodology produced such a large drop in the estimated size of the Indian economy?” Mr. Ramesh asked.
The questions came days after the government highlighted 7.8% real GDP growth in the April-June 2026 quarter. Mr. Ramesh said the figure required closer scrutiny and alleged that the revisions had made the growth rate appear stronger than it was.
He pointed to repeated revisions to the GDP estimate for April-June 2025, which had brought the figure down from about ₹86 lakh crore to ₹80 lakh crore. Citing calculations by former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, Mr. Ramesh said nominal growth in the latest quarter would have been closer to 2.6%, instead of the reported 10.3%, had the earlier base not been revised downwards.
“India’s GDP growth is being inflated by a deflator that does not reflect the inflation faced by ordinary Indians,” Mr. Ramesh said, referring to the gap between the GDP deflator and retail and wholesale inflation.
He also alleged that the new GDP series had reduced nominal GDP estimates for almost every quarter over the four-year period, resulting in an aggregate reduction of ₹43 lakh crore. The government needed to explain how a change in methodology could result in such a large reduction in the estimated size of the economy.
Mr. Ramesh also questioned the GDP deflator, which stood at 2.5% for the quarter, against retail inflation of 3.9% and wholesale inflation of 9.4%. The widening gap raised questions about whether the deflator adequately captured the inflation faced by households, he argued.
Manufacturing and private consumption were other areas of concern, he said, citing Mr. Garg’s calculations that manufacturing GVA had contracted 5.2% and private consumption 5.4% year-on-year.
Mr. Ramesh further cited concerns raised by former Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian and the IMF over India’s national accounts, arguing that the government needed to provide greater transparency on the methodology underlying the GDP estimates.
In a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said Mr. Modi is “a creator of a manipulated world”.
“Let him live in that world but the reality is quite different,” he said, referring to the 7.8% growth figures for the GDP.
Published – September 03, 2026 08:17 pm IST
