The preliminary evidence from the index, which includes components like car sales, air cargo and purchasing managers’ index data, suggests the government has overestimated GDP growth, he said. The Opposition and other critics have said Modi suppressed jobs data and “massaged” economic growth numbers in an attempt to show that his government has done better than the previous administration. With economic growth pegged at over 8 per cent a year, they had expected a pick-up in demand by small businesses and households. A senior official had earlier said they were open to suggestions for improvement, just not “politically motivated” criticism. There are already plans to revamp data compilation and capture the nuanced relationship between prices and real GDP, he said.

Source: The Telegraph May 10, 2019 00:45 UTC