Sources and methods

Questions about GDP calculation refuse to go away

The controversy about India’s gross domestic product (GDP) calculations refuses to go away. If anything, the blow to employment, demand, and output caused by the effects of the pandemic and associated lockdowns has reignited the conversation about whether GDP numbers accurately reflect the possible distress on the ground, particularly in the informal sector. A recent presentation by former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian and former International Monetary Fund representative in India Josh Felman, as reported in this newspaper, in particular has sparked discussion, given that the two authors asserted that GDP might in fact have contracted in the pre-pandemic year