‘Painful to hear allegations of data jugglery’: MoSPI secretary Saurabh Garg says every data is verifiable
India's GDP growth rate: Dr Saurabh Garg said that the data is available on a real-time basis for every sector, and that these data sets are verifiable.
- Sep 3, 2026,
- Updated Sep 3, 2026 4:29 PM IST
India's 7.8% GDP growth rate: There has been no jugglery of the GDP numbers, said Dr Saurabh Garg, Secretary of the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI), adding that it is painful to hear such allegations, considering the amount of work that goes on into preparing the data sets.
Dr Garg’s statements came after India announced that the economy grew at 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter. Subsequently, former finance secretary Subhash Garg, in an interview with NDTV, claimed that the economy actually grew at 2.6 per cent due to the downward revision of the current prices GDP from ₹86 lakh crore to ₹80 lakh crore, which propped up the latest GDP numbers. This kickstarted a debate, with economists explaining in great detail how the GDP numbers are credible.
Speaking to Business Today TV, Dr Garg said that the data is available on a real-time basis for every sector, and that these data sets are verifiable. “So, whether it is the methodology, whether it is the data sources, each of them are transparently available for anyone to verify. So, it's extremely painful and I would say unfortunate to hear. There are thousands of statisticians spread across the country. We have a field force of 10,000 people who go house to house, enterprise to enterprise, collecting data week after week after week,” he said.
“And I must say that the kind of support that people give, whether it is to give consumption expenditure, whether it is the annual survey of industries, whether it is the annual survey of unincorporated sector enterprises, this kind of data collection is also unique to India, and we obviously have one of the largest data collecting machinery in the world,” he said.
“And therefore, to cast doubts on the methodology, on the data sources, on the technical ability of the high-quality statisticians that are available in the country and available with the government, it's extremely painful to hear of these kinds of baseless allegations of data jugglery being made,” said Dr Garg.
The MoSPI secretary said that the methodological changes were introduced in February after extensive consultations with experts, economists, and forecasters. The discussions were underway across the past year. He said that the government had discussions with the IMF, United Nations, and the international community to understand the best practices. Each of these suggestions have been incorporated, he added.
Watch the full conversation here:
India's 7.8% GDP growth rate: There has been no jugglery of the GDP numbers, said Dr Saurabh Garg, Secretary of the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI), adding that it is painful to hear such allegations, considering the amount of work that goes on into preparing the data sets.
Dr Garg’s statements came after India announced that the economy grew at 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter. Subsequently, former finance secretary Subhash Garg, in an interview with NDTV, claimed that the economy actually grew at 2.6 per cent due to the downward revision of the current prices GDP from ₹86 lakh crore to ₹80 lakh crore, which propped up the latest GDP numbers. This kickstarted a debate, with economists explaining in great detail how the GDP numbers are credible.
Speaking to Business Today TV, Dr Garg said that the data is available on a real-time basis for every sector, and that these data sets are verifiable. “So, whether it is the methodology, whether it is the data sources, each of them are transparently available for anyone to verify. So, it's extremely painful and I would say unfortunate to hear. There are thousands of statisticians spread across the country. We have a field force of 10,000 people who go house to house, enterprise to enterprise, collecting data week after week after week,” he said.
“And I must say that the kind of support that people give, whether it is to give consumption expenditure, whether it is the annual survey of industries, whether it is the annual survey of unincorporated sector enterprises, this kind of data collection is also unique to India, and we obviously have one of the largest data collecting machinery in the world,” he said.
“And therefore, to cast doubts on the methodology, on the data sources, on the technical ability of the high-quality statisticians that are available in the country and available with the government, it's extremely painful to hear of these kinds of baseless allegations of data jugglery being made,” said Dr Garg.
The MoSPI secretary said that the methodological changes were introduced in February after extensive consultations with experts, economists, and forecasters. The discussions were underway across the past year. He said that the government had discussions with the IMF, United Nations, and the international community to understand the best practices. Each of these suggestions have been incorporated, he added.
Watch the full conversation here: