GDP, GVA, GNP and national income
The yearly scorecard of an economy: how much is produced, earned and spent, and the related measures built from it.
What the paper can ask
- An economy's output can be counted three ways: by production (value added at each stage), by income (wages, rent, interest, profits) or by expenditure (consumption, investment, government spending and net exports).
- The economist Simon Kuznets led the US national income estimates presented to the US Congress in 1934, and warned that the welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measure of national income.
- India's yearly estimates arrive in stages (advance, provisional, then revised rounds), and the base year used for them is revised from time to time as the economy changes.
Latest
On 27 February 2026 MoSPI's National Statistics Office released a new GDP series with base year 2022-23 (replacing 2011-12), using double deflation and ASUSE and PLFS survey data. Real growth for 2025-26 was put at 7.6 percent in the Second Advance Estimates.
Why exams ask
Setters ask who compiles the numbers, the current base year, and how each related measure differs from the others.
The full story
National accounts are the scorecard a country keeps of its economy: how much was produced, how much income was earned and how much was spent. From these totals come several related measures (GDP, GVA, GNP, NDP and per capita income). Each answers a slightly different question, so read the exact words in a question.
In the news
Test yourself
1.Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the total value of:
Correct. GDP counts final goods and services produced inside the territory in a period, whoever owns the producer. GNP instead follows the nationals.
Not quite. GDP counts final goods and services produced inside the territory in a period, whoever owns the producer. GNP instead follows the nationals. It goes into your error book.
2.Which body releases India's official quarterly GDP estimates?
Correct. The NSO under MoSPI releases the quarterly and annual national accounts estimates. RBI only forecasts growth; it does not compile GDP.
Not quite. The NSO under MoSPI releases the quarterly and annual national accounts estimates. RBI only forecasts growth; it does not compile GDP. It goes into your error book.
3.In February 2026 MoSPI released a new series of national accounts (GDP) estimates. Which base year does the new series use?
Correct. The new series released on 27 February 2026 uses 2022-23 as the base year, replacing the 2011-12 series in use since 2015.
Not quite. The new series released on 27 February 2026 uses 2022-23 as the base year, replacing the 2011-12 series in use since 2015. It goes into your error book.