IMF Backs India’s Revised GDP Methodology, Calls It ‘Welcome Development’

The International Monetary Fund has endorsed India’s revised GDP calculation methodology, saying it aligns with best practices and is entirely consistent with advice from the Fund’s statistics department.

Krishna Srinivasan, Director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, described the revision as a “welcome development” while speaking to reporters in Bangkok on Thursday (October 15, 2026).

IMF says revised method follows its advice

Srinivasan said the changes were consistent with the advice provided to India, including guidance from the IMF’s statistics department.

“These revisions to the methodology are entirely consistent with what the advice we've been giving them, including from our statistics department,” Mr. Srinivasan said.

He also noted that India had issued a note explaining the revisions made to its GDP methodology.

On the GDP numbers, Srinivasan said the changes were consistent with good practices.

The IMF official also credited the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, or MoSPI, for improving India’s GDP statistics.

“I would say there's always room for improvement, but let's recognise the good work done by MoSPI (Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation) for improving GDP statistics,” he said.

The comments come after a political dispute over India’s better-than-expected GDP growth figures for the June quarter, which were released by the government last month.

The June-quarter growth figure was 7.8%.

Revision follows dispute over GDP figures

Former Finance Secretary S. C. Garg contested the figures and claimed that the GDP data had been artificially boosted by compressing the previous year’s figures.

Opposition parties subsequently questioned the integrity of the government’s GDP data, citing Mr. Garg’s claims.

Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageshwaran described Mr. Garg’s approach as “cherry-picking” of data.

Nageshwaran said the latest GDP figures had been compiled using the financial year ending in March 2023 as the new base.

He also said that a change in methodology had led to revisions in the quarterly data for the previous year.

The IMF’s assessment directly addresses the central issue in that dispute: whether the revised methodology conforms to accepted statistical practices.

IMF links currency pressure to global factors

Srinivasan also said India had faced the energy shock with strong fundamentals and had responded well to it.

He cautioned that pressure on India’s exchange rate should not be interpreted as a sign of economic failure.

According to Srinivasan, the exchange rate is “a function of global interest rates, investor risk appetite, and oil prices”.

He added that pressure on the exchange rate did not indicate a real disconnect with growth.

The IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and Pacific, released on Thursday (October 15, 2026), listed India among emerging economies that faced pressure on their currencies after the energy shock.

The report said that pressure had partly eased over the past few months.

It also listed India among the economies that had stepped into foreign exchange markets.

Together, the IMF’s comments support the revised statistical framework while placing currency pressure in the context of global interest rates, investor risk appetite and oil prices.

Source: The Hindu