Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Applauding India’s GDP growth of 7.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2026-27, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has described the South Asian country as a key engine of global growth as New Delhi gears up to organize the crucial BRICS Summit, the media reported on Friday.
The stronger-than-expected performance was driven by services and exports, even as the economy faced an energy price shock, said Julie Kozak, Director of the IMF’s Communications Department.
Her comments came in response to questions on India’s latest growth figures, its macroeconomic data, and the effect of higher crude oil prices on a major energy importer.
Kozak said India’s latest GDP release incorporated a fresh index of industrial production and a new producer price index series. The changes, she said, should improve the country’s GDP estimates.
The IMF said it was also monitoring the effect of rising oil prices on India’s economy. Kozak noted that costlier energy creates pressure for all oil-importing countries. It called the economy resilient despite the energy price shock and welcomed India’s revamped GDP estimation system, while urging better data quality.
Transparency of data
India’s economy has shown resilience despite the energy price shock, with the country’s 7.8 per cent real GDP growth in the first quarter of FY27 coming in above expectations, she said, while welcoming changes in India’s GDP estimation system amid a debate over the integrity and transparency of the data.
India’s real GDP growth in the April-June quarter was higher than the IMF staff’s expectations as well as the consensus among other observers.
“India’s real GDP in the said quarter grew by 7.8 per cent. That was above our staff’s expectations and also the consensus among other observers. This upward surprise was driven by stronger-than-expected activity in the services sector and in exports,” Kozack said during a press briefing on Thursday.
“The outturn also underscores the resilience of the Indian economy despite the energy price shock. It also means that India does remain a key growth engine for the world,” she added.
Kozack also shared her response on India’s latest GDP figures and whether there was scope for greater transparency in the country’s economic data.
Addressing the concerns, the IMF spokesperson pointed to changes incorporated in the latest GDP release, including a new index of industrial production and a new producer price index series.
“I can say that the latest GDP release, the one that we just talked about for Q2, it incorporated both a new index of industrial production. It also included a new producer price index series, and those two new series should help improve India’s GDP estimates,” Kozack said.
She said the IMF welcomed India’s efforts to modernise its macroeconomic statistics, while encouraging authorities to continue strengthening the country’s statistical framework and data quality.
“And we welcome these important steps that India is taking to modernise its macroeconomic statistics. And of course, we encourage the authorities to continue to further strengthen the statistical framework and data quality along the lines that they’re progressing,” she said.
The IMF’s response comes against the backdrop of questions raised over the latest GDP numbers. Former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg had questioned the reported 7.8 per cent GDP growth in the April-June quarter, arguing that the previous year’s current GDP had been revised from Rs 86 lakh crore to Rs 80 lakh crore.
Garg had claimed that without the revision, growth at current prices would have been around 2.6 per cent, adding to the debate over India’s GDP calculations. Ironically, the same former bureaucrat had hailed the same methodology in March!
According to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), India’s real GDP grew 7.8 per cent in Q1FY27, covering the April-June 2026 period. Real GDP was estimated at Rs 81.36 lakh crore in Q1 FY27, compared with Rs 75.46 lakh crore in the same quarter of FY26.
The latest growth figure was also higher than the 7 per cent Q1 FY27 growth estimate earlier projected by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The IMF’s comments therefore come at a time when India’s strong growth performance is being assessed alongside questions around the methodology and revisions underlying GDP estimates.
At the same time, the IMF maintained a positive assessment of India’s broader economic performance, saying the latest growth outcome showed that the economy remained resilient despite the energy price shock.