Mumbai: India’s economic momentum grew steadily in December 2025, as per the newly launched Moneycontrol Eco Pulse Index, a new high-frequency monthly index designed to track India’s economic activity in real-time.
The Moneycontrol Eco Pulse Index, which measures momentum in the economy, stood at 53.4 in December 2025. Readings above 50 on the Index, which tracks over 30 high-frequency economic indicators on a monthly basis, reflect stronger-than-average economic conditions compared with the previous month, while readings below 50 signal moderation.
The steady economic momentum was reflected in several high-frequency indicators released during the month. GST collections picked up to 1.3 percent in December from 0.7 percent in November.
Electricity demand returned to positive growth in December after two consecutive months of contraction, while four-wheeler sales and non-food credit growth picked up during the month. Two-wheeler sales, an indicator of rural demand, were also higher than the previous month.
Conversely, growth had tapered in some of the consumption indicators like UPI volume growth and Aviation Turbine Fuel consumption, a proxy for air travel and cargo movement.
New Moneycontrol Eco Pulse: Methodology and Economic Review Panel
Moneycontrol’s Eco Pulse is a composite high-frequency index which aims to measure India’s economic momentum on a monthly basis and provide early signals of changes in the direction of GDP growth. It signals how India’s economy is doing by tracking over 30 high-frequency economic and business indicators in real-time for a monthly snapshot of the state of the economy.
The Index combines a broad set of monthly indicators spanning industrial activity, consumption, business confidence, transport, and employment into a single measure. By distilling information from multiple datasets, it offers a timely and comprehensive view of underlying economic conditions.
Unlike traditional headline indicators, the Moneycontrol Eco Pulse uses a dynamic statistical framework to extract the common economic signal across indicators, while filtering out short-term noise and extreme fluctuations. The methodology is aligned with international best practices used by central banks and statistical agencies for economic nowcasting.
With a customised Economy Heat Map which tracks what is changing in the economy month-on-month, the Index provides an early indicator of turning points and emerging trends.
The methodology has been vetted by a panel of eminent economists, policymakers and academics:
- Laveesh Bhandari, President and Senior Fellow, Centre for Social and Economic Progress
- Shubhashis Gangopadhyay, former Advisor to Finance Minister; Managing Trustee, India Development Foundation; Founding Dean and Professor, Indian School of Public Policy and Visiting Professor, University of Gothenberg, Sweden.
- DK Srivastava, Chief Policy Advisor, EY India; Honorary Professor at Madras School of Economics and Member of the Advisory Council to the 15th and 16th Finance Commissions.
- Amitendu Palit, Senior Research Fellow and Research Lead (Trade and Economics), Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore.
“Smart investing requires real-time economic data intelligence and Moneycontrol Eco Pulse aims to fast-track access to systemised macro information to bridge the time lag between official statistics and fast-moving economic activity,” said Nalin Mehta, Managing Editor, Moneycontrol and Chief AI Officer – Editorial Operations, Network18. “With a transparent and robust methodology, the Index seeks to complement official data by offering an early, directional signal on whether economic momentum is strengthening or weakening on a monthly basis.”
Moneycontrol, India’s largest digital finance platform with over 1.2 million paying subscribers, will update the Eco Pulse in real-time and use it as a core analytical tool across its macroeconomic coverage, offering readers an early, data-driven assessment of India’s growth trajectory ahead of official GDP releases.
Speaking on the Index, Laveesh Bhandari, President and Senior Fellow, Centre for Social and Economic Progress, said, “Moneycontrol’s latest initiative of following the Indian economy in real time with hard objective data is indeed very useful to us. It gives us fresh economic data in real time, in a crisp manner, and using innovative methods. Will follow it closely.”
Economist Shubhashis Gangopadhyay, Founding Dean and Professor, Indian School of Public Policy, added, “In a fast-changing world, there has to be continual monitoring of change. This initiative could not have been more timely. It will help policymakers to better compensate the losers in the change process as well as signal the directions in which the economy is moving and anticipate the losses. Not all sectors of the society will grow uniformly and this initiative that measures sector-wise changes is, therefore, extremely important.”
DK Srivastava, Chief Policy Advisor, EY India, said, “A highly relevant methodology has been proposed for nowcasting quarterly GDP growth based on an underlying monthly index that utilises monthly data on critical underlying indicators. Preliminary tests indicate robust results. This is a welcome initiative and would add to the rapidly developing efforts to provide monthly projections of economic activity in India,”
“The Moneycontrol Eco Pulse is a timely indicator for tracking economic activity in a rapidly modernising and fast-growing economy like India,” said Amitendu Palit, Senior Research Fellow and Research Lead (Trade and Economics), Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. “Based on a scientific methodology for tracking real-time sectoral performance, the indicator should help businesses, analysts, students and other users better understand activity dynamics.”
Check out Moneycontrol Eco Pulse on: https://www.moneycontrol.com/mc-business-index/
