Rating agencies were not a factor at all in our decisions: Shaktikanta Das

Interview with Economic Affairs Secretary

After helping frame a Union Budget for the last time, Shaktikanta Das, economic affairs secretary, spoke at length on a number of issues to Arup Roychoudhury & Indivjal Dhasmana. Edited excerpts:

The Chief Statistician's advance estimates, released last month, did not account for demonetisation. Did you base your revised 2016-17 estimates and 2017-18 budgeted estimates on that or did you account for the note ban to provide a clearer picture?
The Central Statistics Office's (CSO's) earlier nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for 2016-17 was 11.5 per cent. We have assumed nominal GDP growth at 11 per cent. For next year