Govt defends GDP data after ex-FS claims Q1 growth 2.6%

Govt on Wednesday strongly defended the sanctity of GDP dataNEW DELHI: Govt on Wednesday strongly defended the sanctity of GDP data, and argued its critics' arguments are flawed. Critics pointed to the revision in nominal GDP number in Q1 FY 25-26, the base period for calculating this FY's QI growth rate. Govt said the revision was consistent with the new methodology. The base year has changed, the use of producer price index provides more granular information, and more data is available. This led to the revision, which is completely kosher, govt said.The statistics ministry said Q1 GDP estimate for 2025-26 was lowered from Rs 86 lakh crore to Rs 80 lakh crore as it was based on earlier series (2011-12 base year), which has now been updated to 2022-23.Former finance secretary Subhash Chand