00:00One that's been gaining momentum for the last couple of days in the domestic political arena.
00:04It's India's bumper 7.8% GDP growth that's now turned into a full-blown political economic showdown.
00:11The government is celebrating the numbers, while the opposition and the economists are questioning what lies behind the headline figure.
00:18Union Minister Piyush Gowal has hit back hard at the doubters,
00:22taking a jibe at critiques like former Finance Secretary Shubhas Chandragarg,
00:25saying a few jobless people call themselves economists and appear on TV channels to harm the country.
00:31The political battle escalated after Gharg questioned the revision of the previous year's quarter one GDP,
00:37from around 86 lakh crore rupees to 80 lakh crore rupees,
00:41arguing that this would mean the current price growth of only 2.6%.
00:45Congress quickly latched on, accusing the government of fudging the GDP figures and questioning the downward revision.
00:52The government has rejected the charge, saying comparison mixes different GDP series,
00:57and that the 7.8% figure is based on the new 2022-2023 base year series and constant prices.
01:04And now speaking to India today was Shubhas Chandragarg,
01:07who still continues to stand by his contention, keeping the GDP data showdown alive.
01:43Shubhas Chandragarg,
01:43path breaking record growth,
01:45dunya mein aur koji desh nahi dikha pa raha aisa,
01:48deji se arthik pragati,
01:52ye koji sarkaar nahi karri hai,
01:55ye koji vakti vishesh nahi hai,
01:58yeh desh ke 140 crore bharat vaasiyo ka samart hai.
02:02In this global world of turmoil,
02:06India is that one oasis in the desert.
02:09India is that one country which has continued to stay the course.
02:16We've continued to be the fastest growing amongst the large economies of the world.
02:24The naysayers can say what they want.
02:27But 7.8% growth is a reality.
02:31When I see on television some of the opposition leaders,
02:36even possibly you can throw in along with them a former finance secretary
02:42or a former Reserve Bank governor,
02:45both of whom could not complete their time in India
02:50or in the government,
02:52they don't even know how to compare apples with apples.
02:56They are trying to misguide the people of India,
03:01comparing a growth rate and an old series
03:04with a new series,
03:06where the base year itself has changed.
03:09In the last year,
03:12we have given the whole world to the whole world
03:16that the economy is going to collapse.
03:22And today,
03:24the fastest growing economy has become the fastest growing economy.
03:29So now we are seeing that
03:32these people are going to be doing this.
03:34Mr. Amram Ji is talking about the democracy index.
03:41These numbers were released in February of last year and at that time they had been put
03:48out in the public domain and everyone had mentioned that how much more accurate these
03:56numbers are.
03:57Now after six months to say that the methodology is incorrect or to say that the data has been
04:04first is extremely unfortunate, we get data which is much more granular now, we have increased
04:13the methodology and improved methodologies whether it is due to GST, whether it is due
04:18to the public financial management system which gives us greater granularity of information
04:24about government expenses.
04:27On that note we have Piyush Mishra joining us on the broadcast to bring us more details
04:32into this very story.
04:34Piyush, we have been following this story for quite some time now, several questions
04:38being raised by the opposition, there are analysts, economists, all of them, but the government
04:43still has to defend that the data sets here that are being compared or what the analysts
04:48are pointing out, those comparisons do not stand at the end of the day, those data sets
04:53are not two pair of data that can be compared in the very first place.
04:58That is the very defence that they are going through.
05:01In fact, a little while back we were also talking about how the government spoken about the methodology
05:05which is used to arrive at this very percentage of GDP growth is also public.
05:11So everybody can try it out, figure it out themselves whether there is any number fudging that's happened
05:18as has been, you know, alleged by the Congress.
05:25Well, this is Shreya and while we spoke to the Secretary of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation,
05:31he is now telling us that people who are questioning GDP growth figures, they should look into the source of
05:38data
05:38we have sourced from. One thing is clear that the government is rejecting the claims, those are being made by
05:45critics that this data is fudged.
05:47The government is saying that we have collected data after holding a series of deliberations, multiple conferences have happened, multiple
05:54stakeholders were discussed with and after that itself.
05:57The government, after analysing the kind of growth the Indian economy had in the last three months, after analysing each
06:05and everything, this data has come to the fore.
06:07But the politics continues to take place on this.
06:09On one side, BJP is rejecting the claims of fudged data, on the other side, various Congress leaders coming to
06:16the fore and they are saying that the government has put out the distorted figures.
06:21Now, we will have to wait and watch how it is further going to clear because one thing is clear
06:26that at one side, the Indian economy is doing so well, on the other side, there are people who are
06:33opposing this.
06:35Congress continues to cry fall. They say that the government is not putting out the exact figures.
06:40Congress, they are doing some sort of distortion. The Secretary of Ministry of Statistics is saying that how can you
06:47somewhere call this data incorrect when on all counts similar data was released six months back and it's really unfortunate.
06:56So, one thing is clear that the government is saying that we have come out with correct data and it's
07:00highly unfortunate that people are criticising this.
07:07Right, Piyush, thank you for bringing us those details. On that note, viewers, let's quickly take you through what exactly
07:12has been the two aspects or rather the two perspectives that have been put forward so far.
07:17The big bang GDP war that's underway. One side, we have Subhash Garg, who's raised several of these questions.
07:25On the other side, mostly, it's, in fact, Piyush Goel, who's been coming out to defend as well as Ministry
07:32of Statistics, all of them, all of these departments together, coming in to, in fact, rebut each of these points
07:38that's been raised by Subhash Garg.
07:39Now, Subhash Garg says, quarter one, financial year 26 GDP reduced down from 86.05 lakh crore rupees to 80
07:50.1 lakh crore rupees.
07:52What does the government have to say over this? The government has to say that the rupees 86.05 lakh
07:57crore figure was cited belong to the old GDP series.
08:01So, we are comparing two different GDP series here in the first place.
08:04Number two, Subhash Garg has to say, this is, of course, the former finance secretary that we're referring to, the
08:10revision of changes base for calculating growth.
08:14But on the other hand, the government says the new GDP series has repegged quarter one financial year 26 GDP
08:19at 80.1 lakh crore rupees.
08:22So, this is the new base that's been taken to count and calculate the GDP growth percentage.
08:28On that note, we also have what Subhash Chandra Garg has further added that without revision, the nominal GDP growth
08:36is only a mere 2.6% compared to the 7.8% that's been shown.
08:42Government says the GDP series has revisited the data methods and the base here.
08:47Last but not the least, the growth from data rejig is not expansion is what the former finance secretary has
08:55to say to which the government says the comparison that you are making right now is of apples with oranges.
09:02Instead, compare apples with apples.
09:06So, this is the big war and both sides of it at this given point of view.
09:09So, this is the big war and both sides of it at this given point of view.
