Our Bureau
New Delhi
India’s economy accelerated to a robust 7.8% GDP growth in the October-December quarter of FY26, surpassing expectations and shrugging off global headwinds, according to fresh data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. This marks an improvement from 7.4% in the year-ago period but a sequential slowdown from 8.4% in the prior quarter, under a revamped GDP series with 2022-23 as the new base year replacing 2011-12. The upgrade reflects festive demand surges, GST rationalization, and double-digit manufacturing expansion, signaling resilience amid trade disruptions.
The government has now pegged full-year FY26 growth at 7.6%, up from the earlier 7.4% advance estimate, aligning with economist forecasts and highlighting stronger-than-anticipated momentum. Key drivers include over 9% growth in secondary and tertiary sectors, with manufacturing leading for three straight years and services like trade, hotels and transport surging 10.1%. On the demand side, private consumption and gross fixed capital formation both exceeded 7%, bolstered by rural farm recovery and indirect tax cuts.
This rebasing introduces methodological upgrades like double deflation for agriculture and manufacturing, better unincorporated sector coverage via annual surveys, and proportional Denton benchmarking for quarterly alignment, ensuring more accurate real value-added measurements. Economists note improved sectoral weights capture post-pandemic shifts, digital services rise, and informal activity via GST data.
