Statsguru: Does former CEA Subramanian have his facts right on GDP numbers?

Last week, former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian wrote in a research paper that India’s gross domestic product

actually grew at 4.5 per cent (real) in 2011-17, rather than the 6.9 per cent growth visible in official government numbers. 

Subramanian contends in his paper that real sector indicators show a considerable slowing down in the reference period (2011-12 to 2016-17). While he analysed 17 different indicators excluding tax growth, a cursory look at six indicators including taxes shows that these areas did experience slowdown in the six-year period. 

Growth in bank credit gradually came down from 17 per cent in the