India has undertaken one of the most significant upgrades to its economic measurement system in decades. The rebasing of GDP and CPI may appear technical on the surface—but beneath it lies a much bigger story: India’s economy has structurally transformed.
The weight of food in the inflation basket has fallen sharply. Services and discretionary consumption are playing a much larger role. Digital data systems, GST integration, real-time labour surveys, and improved tracking of the informal economy are reshaping how India measures growth and inflation.
But this raises deeper questions:
In this episode of Capital Calculus, StratNews Global.Tech speaks with Saurabh Garg, Secretary at the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), on India’s evolving statistical architecture, the rebasing of GDP and CPI, the rise of services and consumption, and why credible real-time data is becoming central to India’s growth story.
Key Takeaways:
• Why India rebased GDP and CPI
• The sharp fall in food’s weight in inflation
• How GST and digital systems are improving economic measurement
• Why services and discretionary consumption matter more now
• How India is capturing the informal economy more effectively
• Why real-time data matters for the RBI and policymakers
• The growing importance of credibility and transparency in India’s statistical system
• What this means for investors, markets, and India’s global economic positioning
