New Delhi, Feb. 1 -- The date of 1 February for the announcement of the Union budget precedes by a month the release of the advance estimate of India's gross domestic product (GDP) based on three quarters, which this year will mark the start of a new GDP series with 2022-23 as its base year, replacing the old series based on 2011-12. The new series will change the sectoral weights, and with that, the estimates of aggregate real growth for the first two quarters.

Nominal GDP may not be affected much with the shift to the new series. The tentative (old series) advance estimate for the current year issued on 7 January is Rs.357.14 trillion. The budgeted nominal GDP for 2026-27 is placed at Rs.393 trillion, assuming 10% growth. We have to us...