India says IMF’s ‘C’ rating on data due to old base year

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the International Monetary Fund’s below par rating on the country’s national accounts data was due to an outdated base year and not a reflection of the quality of the statistics.

In its country report on India last week, the IMF assigned a ‘C’ rating to the South Asian nation’s national accounts statistics, which includes data on gross domestic product, consumption and income levels. The rating indicated the data have “some methodological weaknesses” that “somewhat hamper surveillance,” the report said.

Sitharaman told lawmakers in the lower house of parliament that the rank was because of data collection methodologies and an outdated base of 2011-12. The government is in the process of changing that to 2022-23 from Feb. 27 next year, she said.

The Washington-based lender expects India to grow at 6.5% and “they actually appreciated our inflation management,” the minister said, adding that the nation’s growth figures weren’t questioned.

“Overall, India was rated ‘B’ on all the fronts, including inflation, government finance, external sector statistics, monetary and financial statistics and inter-sectoral consistency,” Sitharaman said.