Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) has issued a detailed note enumerating its objections to former Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian’s paper on India’s GDP growth. The note said that Mr. Subramanian’s paper “lacks rigour” and would not stand up to academic scrutiny.
The paper, released in Harvard University, postulated that the GDP growth between 2011-17 was significantly lower than the 7% shown by the official figures.
“Having closely read the paper and taking into account all information available until June 19, 2019, the primary contributors of this note reject the author’s methodology, arguments and conclusions in the said paper,” the note by the PMEAC said. “A critique of official GDP estimates must specifically critique coverage or methodology, the author does neither.”
“Given the fact that his paper lacks rigour in terms of specific data sources and description, alternative hypothesis, rationale of equation specifications, use of dummies, and robustness-check diagnostics of estimated equations, and choice of countries in the sample and a specific list, it would not stand the scrutiny of academic or policy research standards,” the note added.
The Council, however, said this did not mean that the paper should not be taken seriously, but that “to believe it as gospel truth is equally problematic.”
In a detailed rejoinder, it said the 17 indicators “cherry-picked” by the former CEA were sourced from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), which was not in itself a primary source of information.
PM’s Economic Advisory Council rejects Ex CEA Subramanian’s paper on India’s GDP growth
