oppn parties 7.8% GDP Growth Is Good News.

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October 17, 2026

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News Snippets

  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
7.8% GDP Growth Is Good News.

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2026-09-02 15:06:48

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

India's economy grew 7.8% in the first quarter of 2026-27. Real GVA grew faster still, at 8.2%. Both numbers beat the RBI's own forecast. That is good news, and it should be reported as good news.

It is also not the whole story.

The growth has real substance behind it. Manufacturing expanded strongly. Private capital investment rose 11.9% year-on-year. Gross fixed capital formation climbed to 34.3% of GDP, up from 31.4% a year earlier. Household consumption held up. None of this looks like an economy being propped up by government spending alone. The composition of the growth is as encouraging as the headline number.

The manipulation charge built around this data does not survive scrutiny. Comparing this quarter's new-series GDP figure with last year's old-series figure and calling the difference the real growth rate is not a valid statistical exercise. Two different series cannot simply be combined to calculate a growth rate. Stitching them together to produce a lower, more politically convenient number is not analysis. It should be rejected, plainly and without qualification.

That rejection does not close the file on India's statistics. India has changed its GDP base year to 2022-23 and revised its methodology substantially. The revisions are legitimate and, in several respects, overdue. But large revisions demand large explanations. MoSPI has supplied explanations, but they have not eliminated the questions. Economists asking why manufacturing shows a negative deflator amid ongoing consumer inflation, or why the statistical discrepancy between production-side and expenditure-side estimates has widened, are not attacking the economy. They are doing their job. The government would strengthen its own case by answering them directly instead of treating every technical question as an attack.

A high growth number also means little to a household whose real income is not moving. That is the test this quarter does not settle. Global trade tensions remain unresolved. Oil prices can shift India's import bill and inflation outlook within weeks. Weaker demand abroad could still slow Indian exports. At home, investment has to convert into jobs and productive capacity, not just into a stronger topline. Growth that does not reach wages is growth that will not survive contact with an election cycle.

The right response sits between two bad instincts: treating one quarter as proof of an economic miracle, and treating a statistical correction as proof of fraud. Neither is honest. The first quarter gives India real reason for optimism. Whether that optimism is justified will be decided by the quarters that follow, not by this one.

 

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