‘Ill-educated, egregiously wrong…’: Neelkanth Mishra says ‘2.6% GDP growth’ claim is obviously incorrect

India 7.8% GDP growth: The claim that GDP actually grew at 2.6 per cent instead of 7.8 per cent is so “obviously wrong” that several rebuttals have already been made, said Executive Director at the World Bank and  Chief Economist at Axis Bank, Neelkanth Mishra. He said he was shocked to see the “wrong claims”. Mishra’s remarks came after former finance secretary Subhash Garg said that the current prices GDP last year was ₹86 lakh crore, which was revised down to ₹80 lakh crore, and that had that not been done GDP growth would have been only 2.6 per cent.

“I was shocked to see the ill-educated and egregiously wrong claims made by some that if the 'original' base of June-2025 quarter was used, growth in the June-2026 quarter would be much lower,” he said, adding that the new series that significantly improved the methodology was introduced in February. The downward revision in the base was known in March, he said. Mishra said the new series increased the credibility of estimates of real output.

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He said that such claims – without naming Garg – “got traction is itself surprising”. He said the credibility is easy to track and the indicators are not possible to fudge. Mishra said economic activity has been robust:

• Personal vehicle dispatches grew 35%, two-wheeler growth is over 20%
• Commercial vehicle dispatches grew over 40%
• Tax collection growth picked up
• Credit growth is on the upside
• Construction indicators are robust

“Hopefully, now there will be fewer people asking ‘why private sector investment is weak’, given that there is clear evidence of investments,” he said, acknowledging that there is still a slack in the economy and may take several quarters of above-trend growth to recover.

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Garg’s statements kickstarted a storm, splitting economists, many of whom agree with him. Prof Krishnamurthy V Subramanian called Garg’s statements “hilarious demonstration of economic ignorance on National TV”. Member of the PM Economic Advisory Council, Sanjeev Sanyal told India Today TV that no “serious economist” is looking at this data and saying it is not credible.

SBI Ecowrap in a note said an “unnecessary controversy” has been created due to what it called incorrect interpretation of the revised GDP data. The research note called this approach, without naming Garg, “completely unsolicited” and a “sure sign of intellectual dishonesty”.