India's GDP Grows 7.8% in Q1 of 2026-27, Best in Four Years

India's economy opened the financial year 2026-27 with real GDP growth of 7.8 per cent in the first quarter. Manufacturing and services carried the quarter. The reading is the best first-quarter growth in the four years from 2023-24 to 2026-27. It also beat the Reserve Bank of India's own projection of 7.0 per cent for the quarter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the country on the number in a video message and said the figures showed rising confidence in the economy.

The quarter in figures

GDP is the value of final goods and services made inside the country in an accounting period. GVA measures what each producer, industry or sector adds on its own.

What pushed growth up

Investment led the quarter. Gross Fixed Capital Formation rose 11.9 per cent, against 5.8 per cent a year earlier. Household spending, measured as Private Final Consumption Expenditure, grew 7.1 per cent. Exports of goods and services grew 12.0 per cent.

On the production side the tertiary sector expanded 10.0 per cent, up from 8.0 per cent. Financial, real estate, IT and professional services inside it grew 12.1 per cent. The secondary sector grew 8.6 per cent and manufacturing alone 9.2 per cent.

Older years revised upwards

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation raised its real GDP growth estimates for the three previous years. The figure for 2023-24 moved from 7.2 to 7.3 per cent, for 2024-25 from 7.1 to 7.2 per cent, and for 2025-26 from 7.7 to 7.8 per cent. The revision rests on new price and production indices with base year 2022-23, including an Output Producer Price Index and a Banking Services Price Index.

How the world reads it

In July 2026 the International Monetary Fund called India one of the fastest growing economies and a key engine of world growth. In August 2026 S&P Global Ratings kept India's sovereign rating at BBB with a stable outlook, after lifting the long-term rating to that level in 2025 following a gap of eighteen years. Industrial production grew 6.7 per cent in July 2026, and exports of goods and services during April to July were 13.16 per cent higher than a year before.