The government on Wednesday released the much-awaited back-series estimates for India's GDP which showed a lower rate of growth during the UPA years between 2005-06 and 2011-12 than what was estimated using the earlier methodology. The Congress accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of "malicious and fraudulent jugglery" to hide the poor state of economy.
Data released by the Central Statistics Office on Wednesday showed that the maximum growth rate in the UPA years was 8.5 per cent in 2010-11, significantly lower than the 10.3 per cent estimated earlier.
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said an extensive recalibration exercise using the latest data sources and methodological changes had led to a change in growth rates in the back series.
He said the back series had been checked for its methodological soundness by leading statistical experts in the country during two round tables organised by the NITI Aayog in which domain experts participated to ensure the quality of coverage and methodology.
Chief Statistician Pravin Srivastava said the methodology and concepts incorporated to arrive at the back-series data were consistent with international standards.