UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Decoding India’s GDP base revision

Q1. In the context of the New Series of national accounts released by MoSPI in February 2026, the 'base year' of a GDP series is best described as:

  • A. The earliest year for which comparable back series estimates are made available to users, fixing the start of the published data range
  • B. The year selected by the Reserve Bank of India as the reference period for computing the wholesale and consumer price index numbers
  • C. The year whose price structure, data sources and compilation methodology are fixed as the benchmark and retained for all subsequent years until the next revision
  • D. The year whose Union Budget outlays serve as the reference for computing real expenditure growth in later years

Q2. The selection of FY 2022-23 as the new base year for India's national accounts was formally recommended by which one of the following bodies?

  • A. The National Statistical Commission, the apex autonomous body set up to advise on core statistical matters
  • B. The Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics
  • C. The Standing Committee on Economic Statistics, constituted to review survey frames and methodology of economic surveys
  • D. The Fifteenth Finance Commission, in its report covering the award period 2021-22 to 2025-26

Q3. Consider the following statements regarding the choice of base years in India's national accounts: 1. FY 2017-18 was held unsuitable as a base year because of the major changes associated with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax. 2. FY 2019-20 and FY 2020-21 were held unsuitable because they were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 3. FY 2021-22 was held unsuitable because it recorded a contraction in real GDP for the second successive year. 4. The base year immediately preceding 2011-12 in India's national accounts series was 2004-05. Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?

  1. FY 2017-18 was held unsuitable as a base year because of the major changes associated with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax.
  2. FY 2019-20 and FY 2020-21 were held unsuitable because they were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  3. FY 2021-22 was held unsuitable because it recorded a contraction in real GDP for the second successive year.
  4. The base year immediately preceding 2011-12 in India's national accounts series was 2004-05.
  • A. 3 only
  • B. 1 only
  • C. 3 and 4
  • D. 1 and 2

Q4. Which one of the following was the foremost consideration in selecting FY 2022-23 as the new base year for India's national accounts?

  • A. It was the only year in the whole period since 2011-12 in which India's real GDP growth exceeded its nominal GDP growth
  • B. It was the sole year in which both the Economic Census and the decennial Population Census were conducted simultaneously
  • C. It was the first year in which every State adopted a single industrial classification uniformly across all its surveys
  • D. It was the most recent statistically normal year for which robust and comprehensive data were available across sectors of the economy

Q5. The National Industrial Classification (NIC)-2025, adopted as the classification framework for India's new national accounts series, has been aligned with the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities, Revision 5, which is developed and maintained by:

  • A. The Statistics Directorate of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
  • B. The Statistics Department of the International Monetary Fund
  • C. The United Nations Statistics Division
  • D. The Economic Research and Statistics Division of the World Trade Organization

Q6. The number of Sub-Classes in the National Industrial Classification (NIC)-2025 has increased to approximately how many, from 1,304 Sub-Classes in NIC-2008?

  • A. About 1,500
  • B. About 1,700
  • C. About 1,900
  • D. About 2,400

Q7. Consider the following statements comparing India's GDP estimates for FY 2025-26 under the new 2022-23 series with those under the earlier 2011-12 series: 1. Real GDP growth for FY 2025-26 is placed at 7.6 per cent in the new series, higher than the 7.4 per cent of the First Advance Estimates computed on the 2011-12 base. 2. Nominal GDP growth for FY 2025-26 is placed at 8.6 per cent in the new series, higher than the corresponding First Advance Estimate on the 2011-12 base. 3. Real GDP growth for FY 2024-25 is placed at 6.5 per cent in the new series, lower than the growth estimated for that year on the 2011-12 base. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Real GDP growth for FY 2025-26 is placed at 7.6 per cent in the new series, higher than the 7.4 per cent of the First Advance Estimates computed on the 2011-12 base.
  2. Nominal GDP growth for FY 2025-26 is placed at 8.6 per cent in the new series, higher than the corresponding First Advance Estimate on the 2011-12 base.
  3. Real GDP growth for FY 2024-25 is placed at 6.5 per cent in the new series, lower than the growth estimated for that year on the 2011-12 base.
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q8. When MoSPI released the New Series of GDP estimates on 27 February 2026, both annual and quarterly estimates were put out for how many financial years?

  • A. Four
  • B. Three
  • C. Five
  • D. Two

Q9. In the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises, a non-agricultural establishment is treated as 'unincorporated' if it:

  • A. is not registered under any Central or State law and therefore operates wholly outside the formal regulatory system
  • B. is not registered under the Companies Act, 1956 or the Companies Act, 2013, whatever its form of ownership
  • C. employs fewer than ten workers and operates without the aid of power, irrespective of the statute under which it is registered
  • D. is not registered for the Goods and Services Tax, its annual turnover being below the prescribed registration threshold

Q10. Under the 2022-23 series, annual level estimates for the household sector — small own-account businesses, self-employed persons and informal activity — are now derived principally from which one of the following pairs of surveys?

  • A. The Annual Survey of Industries and the Economic Census of unincorporated and incorporated establishments
  • B. The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey and the National Family Health Survey
  • C. The Economic Census and the Index of Industrial Production's establishment panel
  • D. The Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises and the Periodic Labour Force Survey