What GDP does and doesn't tell us about India
GDP is the most quoted and least understood number in Indian public life. A field guide to what it measures, what it misses, and how to read it.
Dev Patel
Topic · 3 articles
Data methods
Where the numbers come from, how they are collected, and where they break.
How India counts inflation, and why your grocery bill disagrees
The CPI basket was weighted from a 2011-12 consumption survey. Your household in 2026 spends nothing like that. An anatomy of the gap.
Dev Patel
Survey vs satellite: the new ways India is being measured
Night-time lights, GST invoices, FASTag pings — administrative and remote-sensed data are filling gaps the surveys leave. With new blind spots of their own.
Dev Patel