Jaitley spars with Chidambaram over 'hatchet job' remark on GDP revision

Jaitley said the revised numbers were globally more comparable, as they took into account a far greater representation of the Indian economy

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took on predecessor P Chidambaram on the revision of the earlier gross domestic product (GDP) data for saying this was the result of a hatchet job.

The back series data in question, said Jaitley, had been calculated by a highly credible organisation, the Central Statistics Office, which maintains an arm's length distance from his ministry.

“Those who took after the new series in 2015 now consider the new series to be a ‘hatchet job’ and a ‘bad joke’. What humours some when data shows an upward trend depresses them if it moves in the reverse direction,” Jaitley said