13.5% growth hides warts

The 13.5% print is lower than consensus estimates, and more so, when compared with the Reserve Bank of India's Q1 forecast of 16.2%

When was the last time you saw a 13.5 per cent real GDP growth number in a quarter and yet most people were feeling disappointed? Well, blame it on statistical constructs and sizeable base effects wrought by the pandemic, which make interpreting the data, even after 2 years of the pandemic, really tricky. Admittedly, the pandemic has complicated the measurement of a host of economic statistics, especially in gauging the bedrock of all economic analysis: inflation and GDP.

Talking of the Q1FY23 GDP numbers, the 13.5 per cent print is lower than consensus estimates, and more so, when compared with the