Goyal defends India’s 7.8% Q1 growth, rejects criticism of GDP data

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has responded to opposition leaders and former Finance Secretary Subhash Garg for taking digs at India’s 7.8% economic growth in the first quarter of fiscal 2026-27, The Hindu reported.

India’s economy grew 7.8% in real terms in the April-June quarter under a revised GDP series, higher than the Reserve Bank of India’s earlier estimate of 7%. The calculation has been contested by critics, including Garg, who have also pointed to changes in earlier GDP estimates.

Rejecting the criticism, Goyal said the opponents were comparing figures of different GDP series and ignoring the change of base year.

“They don’t even know how to compare apples with apples. They are trying to misguide the people of India, comparing a growth rate at an old series with a new series, where the base year itself has changed,” Goyal told reporters.

He also dismissed fears that the reported growth was not creating jobs, saying demand for workers was still strong in such sectors as textiles.

“Send me 100,000 people in Tiruppur, we will fill and provide them a job,” he said.

Garg has said that without the revision of earlier GDP data, the underlying growth rate would have been much lower. Goyal said politicians and ministers do not manufacture economic data and accused critics of seeking to undermine confidence in India’s economy.