For anyone who understand, or at least deludes himself to believe that they understand, how the economy works, the latest data by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) on the quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) should come as a shock. Ever since the Prime Minister stunned the nation by announcing demonetisation on November 8 last year, economists of all hue have been projecting a hit on GDP growth — some even projecting a dip by 3.5 percentage points.

However, none of those apprehensions have come through. The CSO data — the Second Advance Estimate for the current ...