To questions on the gross domestic product (GDP) data issued by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Tuesday, the government’s former chief statistician, Pronab Sen, talks to Indivjal Dhasmana on how to interpret it. Edited excerpts: Critics had earlier doubted the new methodology of GDP calculation and this increased after the release of GDP data for the third (October-December) quarter and the second Advance Estimates for 2016-17 that show no major impact of demonetisation on the economy.

Do you agree with them? You have to understand what the new methodology does. It ...