The study by the international organisation reveals that India's excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic could be as high as 4.9 million; this would be evidence that millions more may have died from coronavirus than the official tally. Several experts and epistemologists have raised this concern, where they have claimed that India is underreporting the covid deaths.
The Washington-based Center for Global Development report, co-authored by former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, included deaths from all causes since the start of the pandemic through June this year.
According to the official figures, there were more than 414,000 deaths in India, the world's third-highest after the United States and Brazil. Still, the study confirms the claims and calls from experts for a rigorous nationwide audit of fatalities.
According to official figures, the massive rise in infection, especially by more infectious and dangerous Delta variant of covid in April and May alone, has killed over 170,000.
Teh report says, "What is tragically clear is that too many people, in the millions rather than hundreds of thousands, may have died," estimating between 3.4 million and 4.9 million excess deaths during the pandemic.
The union health ministry is yet to respond to the claims made by the study report.
"For every country, it's important to capture excess mortality - the only way to prepare the health system for future shocks and to prevent further deaths," Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist of the World Health Organization, said on Twitter.