Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday slammed the Opposition for questioning the country's GDP figure, claiming that there is "mala fide intent" behind their charges.
"What hurts me more is to see them rejoice at what they perceive as India's failure," she said, adding, "This country, against all odds, the people of this country against all odds, are doing their best bit and India is growing as a result of that."
Sitharaman's remarks come after former Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg raised doubts over whether India's headline GDP growth of 7.8% for the April-June quarter (Q1 FY27) accurately reflects the pace of economic activity. According to Garg, GDP should also be estimated in current prices, before adjusting for inflation.
The Opposition, citing his calculation, has alleged that the GDP grew by 2.6%. On the other hand, official data says the real economy grew by 7.8%.
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Sitharaman said political parties should have examined the underlying data before adopting the alternative calculation as evidence of an economic slowdown.
Notably, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has also defended the revised methodology, which incorporates newer administrative datasets and changes in price measurement and sectoral estimation.
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