Luckily the data is so complicated we cannot understand.

According to the Central Statistical Office the Indian economy grew at 7% in the third quarter, ending on 31 December, and is projected to grow at 7.1% over the whole financial year, ending 31 March, when analysts were predicting a much lower rate of 6.4%. This despite the sudden brutal ban on Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, known as demonetization, on 8 November. The growth is all the more remarkable because it is over a higher base in 2015-16. Naturally, politicians and civil servants are cock-a-hoop. Impact of demonetization had been overstated, said Economic Affairs Secretary, Shaktikanta Das. "As we can see from the numbers, manufacturing growth at 8.3% is very satisfying and it is a very promising number," he said. Construction grew at 2.7% and financial and real estate sectors at 3.1% but all other sectors grew faster. Growth in Gross Value Added was 6.6% on top of 7% growth a year ago, but this could be due to higher government expenditure, which went up by 19.9%, and high agricultural production, due to a good monsoon, writes Manas Chakravarty. Private final consumption expenditure increased by 10.1% compared to the same period last year. How can that be possible when over 90% of all transactions are in cash, and people were queuing for hours at banks to exchange old notes for new? One possibility is that people were frantically trying to get rid of their old notes by buying whatever they could. Due to lack of notes vegetable prices crashed so that retail inflation dropped to 3.2%, the lowest in 5 years. This despite a rise in fuel prices which pushed wholesale inflation up to 5.25%, the highest in 2.5 years. So, is this proof of the resilience of the Indian economy or are these figures not to be trusted? The growth figure is a bit too much like those of China where the final growth figure always matches the one predicted, writes Mihir Sharma for Bloomberg. Private consumption was high when consumer confidence was falling sharply, bank credit growth was at decades low in December yet investment was up and manufacturing grew by 8.3% while the index of manufacturing production shrank by 2% in December. "That's right: The best stimulus, according to India's GDP data, is taking away people's money. I'm not sure why the government isn't planning to do it every quarter," he asks sarcastically. Dhananjay Sinha thinks these figures are "statistical jugglery" which  hide a fall of 320 basis points, equivalent to a loss of Rs 1.2 trillion, in our GDP. If our figures for this year are a bit like fairy tale what about the budget for next year which made assumptions on revenue collections based on these figures? Who cares? Just throw some money in handouts and you can't lose. Growth figures will be high but we will remain poor.