7.8% GDP growth claim shaky, Centre must provide explanation, says Congress

The Congress on Thursday claimed that there was “growing evidence of irregularities” in the gross domestic product growth numbers released earlier this week, and said that the Narendra Modi-led government must explain the figures.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that if the methodology behind the numbers was examined, “the whole thing starts looking rather shaky”.

According to figures released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the Indian economy grew by 7.8% in the April-June quarter. The Centre said that the manufacturing sector grew 9.2% during the first quarter of the financial year 2026-’27. This was up from 8.3% in the same period last year. The services sector grew 10%, compared with 8% a year ago, it added.

Ramesh noted on Thursday that the numbers for the previous year’s April-June quarter were revised four times from around Rs 86 lakh crore to around Rs 80 lakh crore.

“If you keep shrinking the base you’re comparing against, this year’s number will automatically look much bigger than it really is, even if nothing has actually changed on the ground,” the Congress said in a statement on social media. “That is simple arithmetic, not economic growth.”

Ramesh referred to an estimate by former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg that if the base year had not been revised down,...

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