India’s economy grew 7.8% in the January–March quarter of FY26, decelerating from an upwardly revised 8% in the previous quarter, lifting full-year growth to 7.7%, official data released on Friday showed.
Despite the quarterly moderation, the annual figure came in slightly above market expectations for a 7.6% expansion, cushioned by a stronger-than-anticipated January-March performance. The 7.1% in 2024-25.
“Real GDP (gross domestic product) has been estimated to grow by 7.7% in FY 2025-26,” the ministry of statistics & programme implementation (Mospi) said, adding that nominal GDP has seen an expansion of 8.9%.
The January-March expansion was also above the 7.0% growth recorded in the year-ago quarter.
India’s real GDP was estimated to grow at 7.6% year-on-year during 2025-26, as per the second advance estimates under the new GDP series (base year 2022-23).
The gross value added (GVA), seen as a more accurate measure of underlying economic activity, grew 7.9% in the first three months of 2026, compared to a revised expansion of 7.3% in the previous quarter. GVA strips out indirect taxes and government subsidy payouts, which tend to be volatile.
The Reserve Bank of India had projected a GDP growth of 7.6% for 2025-26. For context, India’s in 2024-25, 9.2% in 2023-24, and 7.2% in 2022-23 and 8.7% in 2021-22, respectively— maintaining its position as the world’s fastest-growing major economy through much of this run.