'Current investment rate insufficient for high growth'

@ PRONAB SEN, FORMER CHIEF STATISTICIAN

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Former Chief Statistician Pronab Sen has commended the methodological improvements made by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in computing the gross domestic product (GDP) under the new 2022-23 base year series, but also raised some concerns. In an interview with Kuldeep Singh, he highlighted the dichotomy between the sluggish investment rate and (high) GDP growth. Excerpts:

How can the significant difference—around ~100 lakh crore each—in real GDP estimates between the old and new series for FY26, and the previous three years, be explained?

The main reason is the change in deflators between the old and new series. Real GDP is affected by these deflators, while nominal GDP doesn't change very much.

Based on the new series, the investment rate is stuck around 32% in FY26. How do you see this?