A reality check

Ex-CEA makes a strong case for re-examining growth numbers

Recent research work from former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, which has now been published as a Harvard University Centre for International Development working paper, has reignited the debate over the quality and credibility of Indian data. In this paper, Dr Subramanian examines the so-called “new series” of data regarding the Indian economy and compares its estimates for gross domestic product with those under the previous system, which also had a different and earlier base year for calculating real GDP. He discovered that the new series of GDP was much more disconnected from other indicators of the economy than the