GDP back series data: There are more questions than answers on 'NITI Aayog’s' new CSO numbers

Y V Reddy, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India governor, once famously quipped that in India, not only the future but the past was also uncertain. Rewriting India’s economic story Forget the UPA vs NDA politics of it, the new numbers instantly demolish India’s impressive growth story we used to boast of post-the 2008 global financial crisis and raises major questions on the policy decisions of the Reserve Bank of India that were predominantly based on these growth assumptions. One, the timing of the data release and second, the sharp departure from the findings of the Sudipto Mundle report on GDP back series released in August this year. No one likes Mundle Mundle series showed that the GDP growth had actually touched the double-digit mark India has been desperately hoping for in 2006-07. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, too, acknowledged the Mundle findings saying the UPA benefitted from the NDA government policies and, like Kumar, dismissed the high growth phase characterised by high deficits and high inflation.