India, Jan. 8 -- India's GDP growth is expected to be 7.4% in 2025-26, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said in its first advance estimates released on Wednesday. This is pretty much on expected lines given RBI's forecast of 7.3% growth in its December 2025 monetary policy resolution. To be sure, we still have almost a quarter left before the fiscal year gets over on March 31.

The only reason the first advance estimates are keenly watched by observers and, perhaps, even the government, is that they are the last GDP data released before the presentation of the Union Budget for the next fiscal year. The suspense was greater this time because nominal GDP growth was expected to be underwhelming given the subdued inflation through most of...