GDP back series data: Twitter reactions on govt revising numbers range from 'joke' to 'jugglery' to 'manipulation'

The GDP back series data revision by the government on Wednesday has had some divergent and some strident views on Twitter. The government Wednesday lowered the country’s economic growth rate during the previous Congress-led UPA regime, shaving off over 1 percentage point from the only year when India posted double-digit GDP growth post-liberalisation and from each of the three years with 9-plus percent expansion. [caption id=“attachment_4366925” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image. Reuters.[/caption] Recalibrating data of past years using 2011-12 as the base year instead of 2004-05, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) estimated that India’s GDP grew by 8.5 percent in the financial year 2010-11 (April 2010 to March 2011) and not at 10.3 per cent as previously estimated. In a series of tweets, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, the former finance minister, let his views on the GDP data revision known even going to the extent of calling it a ‘joke’. He asked if the National Statistical Commission was disbanded and called NITI Aayog an ‘utterly worthless body’.

The earlier numbers were calculated by the National Statistical Commission. Has the Commission been disbanded?

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) November 28, 2018

Now that Niti Aayog has done the hatchet job, it is time to wind up the utterly worthless body, said Chidambaram.

Now that Niti Aayog has done the hatchet job, it is time to wind up the utterly worthless body.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) November 28, 2018

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Randeep Singh Surjewala called it ‘jugglery’ and said the ‘manipulated back series data’ will not change Modi government’s exit date.’

Economic Mismanagement = Economic Anarchy = Modi Govt = Jugglery of GDP Figures

Manipulated ‘Back Series Data’ will not change Modi Govt’s ‘Exit Date’ !

Modiji’s new definition of GDP = ‘Gimmickry Data Product’

Our Statement:- pic.twitter.com/YXUlhAWrPs

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) November 28, 2018

Latha Venkatesh of CNBC-TV18 put out her views on what she thinks is the trouble with the revised data:

Trouble with the new back series GDP data is that the average for the years 2006-2012 comes to about 6.9% while the avg from 2014-2018 comes to 7.3%. But EPS growth from 2006-12 averaged 20-25%, while from 2014-18 it averages around 4%.

— Latha Venkatesh (@latha_venkatesh) November 28, 2018

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This chart explains what has changed with the revision in GDP Data

Here is what has changed as the Govt releases the #GDP back series data from FY06 to FY12 pic.twitter.com/GssGcr9Lht

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) November 28, 2018

While some said the revision brought NDA and UPA growth on par:

The back series GDP data released for UPA years takes India out of the 9% plus growth club as average GDP growth reduced by 1.5 percentage points from 2004-05 to 2012-13. Now Modi ji can claim NDA growth as good as UPA. What next?

— M K Venu (@mkvenu1) November 28, 2018

There were some tongue-in-cheek remarks too like this one:

Official back series #GDP data- if you cannot grow tall then make others short

— Vijay Karkare (@vijay_karkare) November 29, 2018