Need to bring credibility to government data, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Economists and investors have said they have little or no confidence in India’s official economic data. Last December, the government held back the release of jobs data but an official report leaked to the Business Standard newspaper showed the unemployment rate had touched its highest level in 45 years.

But Sitharaman said there was no need to cast aspersions on every data that the government releases. She said the government is trying to change the way it collects and releases data.

Reuters reported earlier this year that many economists said they were stunned when the government upwardly revised GDP growth for 2016/17 to 8.2 percent from 6.7 percent, although the demonetisation of high value notes hit businesses and jobs in that financial year.