‘Time to review GDP numbers’

It is time the GDP numbers are comprehensively reviewed since suspect data does not auger well, the Commerce Minister said on Wednesday. “Well, the calculation (of GDP) is something on which there have been established practices and these methodologies are time-tested but today there are definitely a lot of questions being raised about them. The Chief Economic Advisor has come out openly speaking about it. It’s time we looked comprehensively into it because after all if government data is suspect, even in the minds of a few, it doesn’t augur well,” Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in an interview with a private television network. “It might be useful for just once to do a comprehensive review. If you are convinced that the methodology adopted now is fine, go ahead with it but the review is harmless,” she added. Last year, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian had said that the new GDP numbers are “puzzling.”