India's latest GDP growth figures have triggered a political slugfest after former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg questioned the government's headline 7.8% real GDP growth for the first quarter of 2026-27, arguing that revisions to the previous year's data have made the latest growth rate appear stronger.
Garg's remarks, made in an interview with NDTV, were quickly picked up by the Congress, which accused the Narendra Modi government of "fudging" economic data and demanded an explanation for the revisions.
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The BJP, however, rejected Garg's assessment. BJP leader Amit Malviya hit back at the former finance secretary, calling his 2.6% growth calculation incorrect and accusing him of misreading official GDP data.
According to the latest estimates released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, India's real GDP grew 7.8% in Q1 FY27, while nominal GDP growth stood at 10.3%.
Garg, however, has questioned how the latest figure should be interpreted after revisions to the previous year's GDP estimates.
Garg's main argument centres on the base used to calculate the latest growth rate.
According to his assessment, the previous year's first-quarter GDP at current prices was earlier estimated at around Rs 86 trillion, but has now been revised to around Rs 80 trillion.
Garg argued that such a sharp downward revision means this year's growth rate is being calculated against a significantly lower base.
He said that without the revision to the previous year's figure, nominal GDP growth would have looked considerably weaker. Based on his calculation, the growth could be closer to 2.6%.
Garg also raised concerns about the composition of economic growth, particularly household consumption.
He argued that while government capital expenditure remains strong, household consumption figures have been revised down significantly. According to his assessment, comparing current consumption with the earlier estimate for the previous year could indicate very weak, or even negative, growth.
Garg has also questioned manufacturing performance while noting stronger growth in agriculture and mining.
His broader argument is that policymakers should look beyond the headline GDP number and address any underlying weakness in consumption, incomes and demand.
The Congress used Garg's remarks to intensify its criticism of the government.
