AgenciesIndia’s strong base helped, says IMF At a press briefing in Bangkok on Thursday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said India entered the energy shock with strong fundamentals and has responded well to it, and that pressure on its exchange rate should not be read as a sign of economic failure.Krishna Srinivasan, Director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, was asked how India should read the gap between strong domestic growth and pressure from external markets, and what it would take for growth to stay resilient.

"India entered this with very strong fundamentals," he said.Growth was strong and fiscal prudence was firmly in place, he said, and "they have responded well to the shock".Also read: Asia set to ‘continue to outpace the world’, says IMF, as it asks central banks to stay focused on price stabilityGrowth revised up on a strong first quarterLive EventsSrinivasan said the IMF raised its India growth forecast because the April-June quarter came in much stronger than it had expected.

The Fund now sees growth at 7 per cent this year and next, he said, and 6.9 per cent over the medium term.The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) put real GDP growth at 7.8 per cent for April-June.The Fund's World Economic Outlook, released on Tuesday, shows India at 7.0 per cent in both 2026-27 and 2027-28.

On a calendar-year basis the figures are 7.4 per cent for 2026 and 7.0 per cent for 2027.

The 2026 forecast is 0.5 percentage point higher than in April and 0.6 point higher than in July.The report said India remains among the fastest-growing major economies, backed by resilient domestic demand and strong services activity.It also said India stands out in the medium-term outlook with upward revisions.

It credited favourable demographics, a large and growing domestic market and continued structural reforms.

Among major economies, India is an exception in not needing more fiscal consolidation than currently planned to keep its debt ratio at 2025 levels, the report said.Exchange rate not a sign of failureSrinivasan said the pressure on the exchange rate does not point to a real disconnect with growth.

The exchange rate is "a function of global interest rates, investor risk appetite, and oil prices",....