Jairam Ramesh calls India's 8.2% GDP growth 'ironic' after IMF criticism

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After the National Statistics Office on Friday released the quarterly GDP data for the months of June to September, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh termed them to be ironic, while referring to International Monetary Fund's recent report, which gave 'C' grade to India's national accounts statistics in its annual assessment of the Indian economy.

Earlier on Friday, as per the NSO data, India's real GDP was estimated to have grown by 8.2 per cent in the July-September quarter of the current financial year 2025-26, compared with 5.6 per cent in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

"It is ironic that the quarterly GDP numbers have been released very soon after an IMF report gave the second-lowest grade of C to India's national accounts statistics in its annual assessment of the Indian economy," Jairam Ramesh wrote on 'X'.

While referring to the IMF report, Jairam Ramesh stressed that the numbers of the Indian economy continue to be disappointing and pointed out that the high GDP growth rates are simply not sustainable in the absence of any renewed momentum in private investment.

"The numbers continue to be disappointing. There has been no upswing in Gross Fixed Capital Formation. High GDP growth rates are simply not sustainable in the absence of any renewed momentum in private investment. That is clearly not in evidence," he said.

The Congress leader claimed that the GDP deflator is unrealistically low and the official deflator implies inflation of only 0.5 per cent, but ordinary households are facing high price increases. Ramesh mentioned that the government is understating inflation to make GDP growth look better.

"The unrealistically low GDP deflator - which implies an inflation rate of only 0.5 per cent - is at complete variance with the experiences of crores of households burdened by crushing price rise in their items of daily consumption," the 'X' post added.