International Monetary Fund (IMF) endorses India's revised GDP calculation methodology as consistent with good practices

Key facts

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on October 15, 2026 said India's updated GDP calculation methodology aligns with best practices and is entirely consistent with IMF advice, calling the base revision a 'welcome development'.
• Krishna Srinivasan, Director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, made the remarks in Bangkok and noted India had issued a note explaining the revisions to the GDP methodology.
• Srinivasan acknowledged the work of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) in improving GDP statistics, while stating there is always room for improvement.
• The IMF raised India's GDP growth forecast for 2026-27 to 7% from 6.4% projected in July, citing stronger-than-expected economic momentum, resilient domestic demand and robust services activity, and raised the 2027-28 forecast by 0.3 percentage points to 7%.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised its GDP growth estimate for the current financial year to 7.1% at its latest monetary policy meeting.
• Srinivasan said pressure on India's exchange rate after the energy shock reflects global interest rates, investor risk appetite and oil prices, and does not indicate a disconnect with economic growth.
• A political dispute arose after India reported 7.8% GDP growth for the April-June quarter; former Finance Secretary SC Garg alleged previous year's data was compressed to inflate growth, while Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran called his approach 'cherry-picking' and said the new base year is the financial year ending March 2023.