Key Points
The number arrived with an asterisk. India’s economy expanded 7.8% in the October–December quarter, beating consensus forecasts and confirming the country as the fastest-growing large economy on earth. But the figures also debuted a new statistical framework — one that changes how growth is measured, how the past is read, and how the future is projected.
The Numbers Under the New Framework
The 7.8% expansion marked a moderation from the prior quarter’s 8.4% — itself revised upward from the originally reported 8.2%. Private consumption drove the results, growing 8.7% year-on-year, supported by festive-season spending on automobiles and gold and by tax cuts pushed through by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government earlier in 2025. Manufacturing posted double-digit growth for the fifth consecutive quarter at 13.3%, while financial and professional services hit a seven-quarter high of 9.5%.
The government raised its full-year growth estimate to 7.6%, up from 7.4% in its earlier projection. Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran said India would comfortably cross the $4 trillion GDP mark in the next fiscal year — a milestone that puts it within striking distance of overtaking Japan.
The Data Overhaul
These are the first GDP figures released under a revised statistical series that shifts India’s base year from 2011–12 to 2022–23. The new methodology incorporates GST filings, digital transaction data and corporate financial returns, replacing the older system’s heavy reliance on wholesale price indices. The International Monetary Fund had given India’s previous framework a “C” rating, citing the outdated base year and distorted deflators.
The revision matters beyond statistics. When India last rebased in 2015, the estimated GDP growth for fiscal 2013–14 jumped from 4.7% to 6.9%. Oxford Economics noted that the improved capture of faster-growing economic segments means the measured growth trajectory is “likely to be structurally higher” going forward. That structural lift also carries a complication: a smaller nominal GDP figure under the new series pushes up fiscal deficit and public debt ratios, implying a steeper consolidation path ahead.
The Trade Deal That May Not Survive Its Own Success
The October–December quarter was also the first full period during which Indian exporters bore the weight of Washington’s 50% tariffs, imposed in August 2025. In early February, New Delhi and Washington announced an interim deal that would cut those duties to 18% in exchange for India’s commitment to purchase $500 billion in American goods — energy, aircraft, precious metals and technology — over five years.
Then the ground shifted. On February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that President Trump lacked the legal authority to impose sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Trump responded by invoking the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a temporary 15% global tariff. India immediately postponed its Washington delegation, and both sides are reassessing the deal’s legal basis and negotiating leverage. Within policy circles in New Delhi, some officials see the ruling as an opportunity to seek better terms. India’s opposition Congress party has called for the pact to be put on hold entirely.
For Modi, the GDP data validates a strategy built on tax cuts, consumption stimulus and bilateral dealmaking. But the numbers arrive at a moment when the rules governing India’s most important trade relationship are being rewritten by a court ruling, a retaliatory tariff and an agreement whose terms may no longer match the legal reality underneath them.