India may rethink how it measures growth, as shift from GDP to NDP comes under consideration

GDP to change to NDP

• India may shift from GDP to NDP as main economic growth measure
• NDP accounts for depreciation, offering a clearer view of actual income
• Any switch to NDP likely after 2029, with new GDP series due in 2026

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India’s long-term Viksit Bharat ambition could face an important recalibration if the government adopts a new way of measuring economic growth. Moneycontrol has learnt that the statistics ministry is considering a shift from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to Net Domestic Product (NDP) as the primary lens to assess the economy, in line with emerging global statistical norms.

“We are considering a move to NDP in line with SNA 2025 recommendations,” a person aware of the discussions told Moneycontrol, signalling that the debate has moved beyond academic circles and into active policy consideration.

India would not be acting in isolation. The upcoming System of National Accounts 2025 (SNA 2025), the global framework that guides how countries compile national income statistics, has explicitly encouraged countries to place greater emphasis on net measures of output.

While GDP will continue to be compiled, the new framework argues that NDP offers a conceptually cleaner picture of economic progress.

“Historically, GDP has been the key measure of domestic production; however… NDP, which is equal to GDP less depreciation and depletion, is conceptually superior, and countries are encouraged to compile estimates of NDP to complement GDP,” the pre-edit release of SNA 2025 notes.

GDP measures the total value of goods and services produced, without accounting for the wear and tear of capital used in the process. NDP strips out this depreciation, offering a closer approximation of the income actually available to households and firms.

India already publishes NDP alongside GDP, but it has never been the headline growth metric. The gap between the two is sizeable. In FY25, India recorded nearly Rs 37 lakh crore in depreciation. As a result, NDP stood at Rs 293.9 lakh crore, significantly lower than the GDP estimate of Rs 330.7 lakh crore. In FY24, the difference was similar, with NDP at Rs 267.6 lakh crore, about Rs 33.6 lakh crore below GDP.

This gap matters even more as policymakers globally place greater emphasis on sustainability and material well-being rather than headline output alone. “…with the increased focus on (material) well-being and sustainability, it is increasingly recognised that net measures, which are more reflective of the actual costs borne in production, are conceptually superior to their gross counterparts,” SNA 2025 notes.

That said, officials note that any such shift is unlikely in the near term.

A move to NDP as a primary growth indicator is more likely to coincide with a future overhaul of India’s national accounts—possibly after 2029.

In the nearer term, India is already preparing for a major statistical reset. The government will release a new GDP series in February 2026, revising the base year to 2022–23 from 2011–12 after nearly a decade.

The upcoming series is expected to address concerns raised by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, which has recently flagged questions around India’s growth estimates.

The new methodology is also expected to lean more heavily on high-frequency and administrative data sources, such as e-Vahan vehicle registrations, UPI transactions, to better capture structural changes in the economy.