In New Delhi on December 3, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament that India will switch its national‑accounts base year from 2011‑12 to 2022‑23, effective between 26 and 27 February next year. The change is meant to bring the statistics in line with today’s economic structure. She made the announcement after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) assigned a C grade to India’s national‑accounts data in its recent Article IV report; the minister clarified that the grade was tied solely to the old base year, not to the integrity of the data.
“The grade was assigned to data on national accounts. What was the reason behind the C rating? That the data is based on an outdated base year, which is 2011‑2012, but the Government of India is now changing that, and from next year we will have a data base year as 2022‑2023, and from Feb 26‑27, it will come into execution,” she said.
The issue gained political attention when the National Statistics Office released a July‑September 2025‑26 estimate showing real GDP rose 8.2 %. Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh called the timing “ironic”, linking it to the IMF’s assessment. Nonetheless, the IMF also praised India’s solid macro‑policy record, noting that growth is expected to stay robust and inflation relatively low despite outside pressures.
The IMF’s critique focused on methodological shortcomings in India’s statistical system rather than the authenticity of the data. It remarked that while “National accounts data are available at adequate frequency and timeliness and provide broadly adequate granularity. However, some methodological weaknesses somewhat hamper surveillance and warrant an overall sectoral rating for the national accounts of C.” It also flagged the “outdated base year” of 2011‑12.
India’s public‑finance and accounting frameworks are routinely audited by the independent Comptroller and Auditor General, whose reports are presented to Parliament and state legislatures and examined by cross‑party Public Accounts Committees. This oversight, along with the Reserve Bank of India’s regulated borrowing procedures and the overlap between budget documents, RBI publications, and CAG audits, underscores the reliability of the national‑accounts system.
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