MUMBAI, Feb 27 — India’s economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the last three months of 2025, data showed today, driven by solid consumer spending and a new framework that calculates economic output more accurately.

Gross domestic product rose 7.8 per cent in the October to December quarter, compared to the same period a year earlier, according to data from the statistics ministry.

While growth was down from the 8.4 per cent recorded in the previous quarter, it edged past market expectations of 7.6 per cent.

Friday’s reading reaffirms India as the world’s fastest-growing major economy and comes after a tough year for policymakers who have struggled with steep US tariffs, a falling rupee and muted consumption.

Faced with a dimming economic outlook in 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to bolster the economy by slashing income and consumption taxes, which has helped rebound consumer spending in recent quarters.

New Delhi also managed to secure a trade deal with Washington earlier this month — a move that boosted sentiment around the rupee but came just weeks before the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

The GDP numbers are the first data released under a revised framework that New Delhi said better captures “the realities of a fast-changing economy”.

The data overhaul has seen India shift its GDP base year to 2022-23 from 2011-12 and adopt more granular price deflation to help quell concerns that earlier methods relied too heavily on the wholesale price index.

Growth calculations are also now based on newer sources of data — including information from India’s online tax and vehicle registration databases.

The government said the new data aligns official numbers “more closely with the structure and dynamics of today’s economy”. — AFP

 Malay Mail – Money