Social Issues5 Nov 2026 · about 6 min

India rebased its GDP. It still can’t see the Rs 34.5 lakh crore women do free

The brief

Rebasing GDP means updating the reference year used to compare prices, production and the economy’s size over time. India moved its base year to 2022-23 in February 2026. This gives national accounts a more recent economic benchmark instead of relying on an older structure. The exercise added new data sources and reassessed the informal economy. Those changes can alter measured growth and the estimated size of economic activity. The key mechanism is better information: when the statistical system captures sectors more fully, the national numbers can change. The rebasing also exposes a wider measurement gap. Unpaid household and care work still sits outside GDP, even though it supports paid employment. India therefore has newer official accounts, but they remain incomplete unless the country also measures unpaid care through a satellite account linked to its Time Use Survey.

What does it mean to rebase GDP, and why did India change its GDP base year to 2022-23?

The exercise added new data sources and reassessed the informal economy. Those changes can alter measured growth and the estimated size of economic activity. The key mechanism is better information: when the statistical system captures sectors more fully, the national numbers can change.

The rebasing also exposes a wider measurement gap. Unpaid household and care work still sits outside GDP, even though it supports paid employment. India therefore has newer official accounts, but they remain incomplete unless the country also measures unpaid care through a satellite account linked to its Time Use Survey.

How much unpaid household and care work do Indian women do, and how is it different from men's unpaid work?

India’s unpaid care workload is large and sharply unequal. A deeper analysis of the 2024 Time Use Survey finds that women aged 15 to 59 spend 343 minutes a day on unpaid domestic and care work. Men spend 43 minutes. That is a difference of 300 minutes every day.

The survey also shows who performs the work. Around 93% of women do unpaid household or care work, compared with 44% of men. Another measure finds women spend about 201 minutes a day more than men on unpaid household work. These figures capture cooking, cleaning, care and other activities done without pay.

The work is economically valuable but absent from GDP. A Ministry of Women and Child Development study values it at up to Rs 34.5 lakh crore, or roughly 15–17% of GDP. The figures show why care is a major economic issue, not merely a private household matter.

Why does India's GDP exclude unpaid domestic work even though families and the wider economy depend on it?

GDP is built around a defined production boundary. It records economic activity that produces goods or services within that boundary, especially when they are exchanged or paid for. Unpaid household work falls outside it, even when families and businesses depend on that work every day.

The article gives a clear example. A creche worker who is paid to look after a child contributes to GDP. A mother or grandmother doing the same work for free does not. The care itself has not vanished. Only the payment, and therefore its place in GDP, is missing.

This boundary makes GDP consistent, but it also leaves a major blind spot. India’s Time Use Survey shows women do extensive unpaid work, and a government study values it at up to Rs 34.5 lakh crore. The Ministry of Statistics acknowledges that excluding unpaid services considerably underestimates national income.

How could counting unpaid care work in a satellite account change government budgets and economic priorities?

A satellite account would measure unpaid care separately from headline GDP. It would show how much work is done, what that work is worth, who performs it and where it is concentrated. This matters because governments allocate money through the activities their statistics make visible.

The mechanism is practical. Time Use Survey data could be combined with accepted wage-based valuation methods to estimate unpaid domestic and care work. Policymakers could then compare the scale of care with spending on childcare, employment programmes and other public services. The account would not change the production boundary of GDP; it would add information around it.

India already has two national Time Use Surveys and the required valuation method. Publishing the account regularly could strengthen the case for care investment. It could also expose regional and gender gaps, helping governments treat childcare as labour-market policy rather than a side programme.

Why can women’s paid employment rise without reducing their total workload at home?

Paid employment does not automatically remove unpaid responsibilities. If a woman starts a job but household chores and childcare remain largely hers, her working day simply becomes longer. The article calls this a second shift. Her paid work rises, but her unpaid workload does not fall.

The survey evidence shows the imbalance. Women spend 343 minutes a day on unpaid domestic and care work, compared with 43 minutes for men. The article also reports that women’s unpaid workload has barely moved in five years, even as female labour-force participation rose from 23.3% in 2017-18 to about 40% in 2025 under the PLFS measure.

This explains why employment statistics alone can mislead. The policy question is not simply how to persuade more women to work. It is how to make paid work compatible with care, through childcare and other infrastructure that reduces the unpaid burden.

How could childcare services and other care infrastructure create jobs while enabling more women to enter or remain in paid work?

Care infrastructure serves two purposes at once. It employs people in childcare and related services, while making it easier for parents, especially women, to take or retain paid jobs. This turns care from an invisible household responsibility into both an employment sector and a support for the wider labour market.

The article points to Palna, a government childcare scheme. By March 2025, only 11,395 anganwadi-cum-creches had been approved against a target of 17,000. Fewer than 10% of anganwadi centres are in cities, where women’s participation is lowest. The mechanism is clear: reliable local childcare can reduce the time women must personally provide care.

The care economy is identified in the Economic Survey as a promising source of jobs. Expanding childcare could therefore help meet the government’s employment ambitions while supporting families. The article argues that childcare should become labour-market policy, not remain a side programme.

What does GDP actually measure, and why is it only one way—not a complete measure—of a nation's economic well-being?

GDP measures the value of production captured within a defined boundary of economic activity. It is useful for tracking market output and comparing economic performance over time. India’s rebasing exercise shows that the measurement can improve when new data sources and better methods are introduced.

But GDP does not record every activity that creates value. A paid creche worker is counted, while a mother or grandmother providing the same care for free is excluded. The care still enables other work and supports families, yet the unpaid service does not enter the headline total.

That is why GDP is only one measure of economic well-being. India’s Time Use Survey records a large unpaid workload, and a government study values it at up to Rs 34.5 lakh crore. A satellite account could add this information without abandoning GDP, giving policymakers a fuller view of work, care and economic priorities.

This brief was written by AI from the original reporting and checked by other models. Names, figures and quotes come from the source; read it for full context.