Lok Sabha Question No. 74 (STARRED), answered on 2026-02-04
Subject: GDP Data Quality
Ministry: STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION
Asked by: Shri Anand Bhadauria

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

## LOK SABHA

STARRED QUESTION NO. *74

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.02.2026

## GDP DATA QUALITY

## *74. SHRI ANAND BHADAURIA:

Will the Minister of STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has released various data including data for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on a quarterly basis and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded the data quality for GDP data for the 2nd quarter of Financial Year 2025-26 released  by  the  Government  from  the  Grade  'B'  to  the  Grade  'C' category;
- (c) if so, the details thereof along with the reasons cited by the IMF; and
- (d) the details of the steps taken by the Government to maintain the purity and sanctity of the released national data?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS  AND  PROGRAMME  IMPLEMENTATION,  MINISTER  OF STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  OF  THE  MINISTRY  OF  PLANNING AND  MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  CULTURE  (RAO

INDERJIT SINGH)

- (a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (d) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *74 FOR 4 TH  FEBRUARY, 2026 BY SHRI ANAND BHADAURIA REGARDING GDP DATA QUALITY. (a): Yes Sir. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) releases  annual  as  well  as  quarterly  estimates  of  National  Accounts Statistics  as  per  Advance  Release  Calendar  (ARC).  Accordingly,  the  First Advance Estimates (FAE) of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the Financial Year  (FY)  2025-26  was  released  on  7th  January,  2026  and  Quarterly Estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the July-September Quarter (Q2) of Financial Year (FY) 2025-26 was released on 28th November, 2025. (b) & (c): IMF has included Data Adequacy Assessment Framework as part of its annual review of economies under Article IV consultation in 2024. The framework is meant to review the aspects related to coverage, granularity and  frequency  &  timeliness in  compilation  of  GDP.  In  both  years  of assessment  i.e.  2024  &  2025,  the  IMF  has  placed  GDP  under  'C'  due  to outdated  base  year  which  is  2011-12.  However,  Ministry  has  decided  to update the base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23. (d):  Compilation  of  National  Accounts  Statistics  is  done,  to  the  possible extent, as per System of National Accounts (SNA) 2008, which is internationally  accepted  set  of  recommendations  endorsed  by  United Nations Statistical Commission. Moreover, National Accounts Statistics also adheres to Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) standards of IMF since  2001.  SDDS  ensure  that  the  statistics  compiles  with  its  four  key aspects i.e. Coverage, Periodicity, Timeliness; Access by public; Integrity of the disseminated data and Quality of the disseminated data. In addition to this, the compilation framework is finalized under the Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics, which comprises of experts from Academia, Central and State Government, RBI etc.

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