IMF Backs India's New GDP Methodology: What the Base Year Change Means
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) called India's revised method for calculating GDP a "welcome development" and said it is in line with best practices and with IMF advice, including advice from its statistics department.
The remarks came from the Director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, on the day the IMF released its Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and the Pacific (15 October 2026).
India's new GDP series uses 2022-23 as its base year, in place of 2011-12. The change also revised the quarterly figures for the previous year. The government published an explanatory note on the methodology.
A month earlier, official data showed 7.8% growth for the April to June 2026 quarter. Some commentators questioned the figure, arguing that the revision had lowered the previous year's numbers. The Chief Economic Adviser rejected this as selective reading of the data.
The IMF also said India faced an energy shock with strong fundamentals, and that pressure on the rupee came from global interest rates, investor mood and oil prices, not from economic weakness.
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI)
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, or MoSPI, is the central government ministry that produces India's main official numbers. It measures how big the economy is (GDP), how fast prices are rising (CPI inflation), how many people have jobs (PLFS) and much more. It also tracks how some government programmes and big infrastructure projects are doing. If the government is a family planning its budget, MoSPI is the person who keeps the household accounts honest and up to date.
The new GDP series that the IMF has now praised was built by MoSPI's National Statistical Office. The IMF's comments credit MoSPI's work and suggest that the 2022-23 base revision addressed many of the gaps it had pointed out in 2025.
National Income Accounting and GDP Measurement
National income accounting is the system a country uses to measure the size of its economy and how fast it grows. Its best-known number is GDP, the total value of all final goods and services produced inside the country in a year. GDP can be measured in three ways: by adding up production, spending or incomes. To compare growth over the years, prices are fixed at a chosen base year.
The debate over the 7.8% quarterly growth figure is about how the base revision changed the previous year's numbers. The IMF's view is that the new method itself follows global best practice.
IMF Article IV Consultations and Country Surveillance
An Article IV consultation is a regular health check of a member country's economy by the IMF. IMF staff study growth, inflation, budgets, banks and the exchange rate, discuss them with the government and central bank, and then publish advice. As part of this check, the IMF also rates the quality of the country's economic data in a Data Adequacy Assessment.
The IMF's praise for the new GDP method links back to its own earlier "C" grade for India's national accounts. A better grade in a future Article IV review would depend on how the new series performs over time.
- New GDP base year: 2022-23 (old: 2011-12); released 27 February 2026
- April to June 2026 quarter GDP growth: 7.8%
- IMF statement: 15 October 2026, along with the Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and the Pacific
- IMF 2025 Article IV: national accounts graded "C"
- MoSPI formed 15 October 1999; NSO formed 2019 (CSO + NSSO)
- New CPI base year: 2024 (old: 2012)
- Statistics Day: 29 June