With new data sources and process upgrades, new GDP data set to capture the economy more accurately

New GDP data series launching on February 27, 2026, promises enhanced accuracy through upgraded methodologies and new data sources.

The new series of national accounts data to be released on Friday (February 27, 2026) will incorporate several methodological and statistical upgrades that will make India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross Value Added (GVA) data more accurate and granular, an analysis of the various changes being implemented shows.

Over the last week, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has made public the reports of various sub-committees tasked with looking at specific ways to upgrade the national accounts data. These upgrades include better methodologies, and the inclusion of new data sets, such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) data. 

The most visible of the changes in the national accounts data is that the base year will be updated from 2011-12 to 2022-23, making both the GDP and GVA data more accurate representations of the current economy, while also improving comparisons over time periods.

The Sub-Committee on Methodological Improvements proposed several sector-wise improvements that have been implemented. 

For instance, for the non-financial private corporate sector, the currently-used 2011-12 series of data deals with companies that operate across sectors by allocating that entire company’s GVA to the sector in which the bulk of its activity is. The new series, the activity-wise revenue share for a company is being used to calculate the value added in each business activity. This will help capture all the activity in each sector. 

Another improvement, to do with the general government sector, is that the new series will also include the value of the housing services provided by governments to their employees. This will mean that the value of services provided is more accurately captured when measuring the output of the general government. Further, the coverage of autonomous institutes and local bodies has also been enhanced.