Former Chief Statistician Questions India GDP Data Quality

Former Chief Statistician of India Pronab Sen questioned the methodology and data quality of the new GDP series after the government revised Q1 FY26 GDP downward from ₹86.05 lakh crore to ₹80 lakh crore. Sen attributed the 7 percent decline to a change in the base year and the correction of previous overestimations.

While Sen stated he does not believe the data was "fudged," he argued that "the optics of it were really bad" because of a lack of transparency. He specifically highlighted the switch from the Wholesale Price Index to the Producer Price Index and the use of double deflation. Sen warned that these statistical frameworks require high-frequency input data that the government may not actually possess, stating, "I have not seen any evidence that they have that data."

To restore confidence among researchers and the public, Sen recommended that the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation run both indices in parallel for five years and release more raw data. Former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg also raised concerns regarding the GDP revisions and the price switching process.