While it is certainly a reason to celebrate that India has become the world’s fourth-largest economy, this economic milestone is only part of the story.
Haryana's revised BPL criteria, expanding the scope for families to qualify as BPL, has sparked debate, with govt data showing 2.10 cr residents classified as impoverished.
CM Khattar, while unveiling a free college education scheme, said 50% of Haryana households earn less than Rs 1.80 lakh per annum. Critics have interpreted it in multiple ways.
MP's growth is driven by agriculture, with industry lagging behind. State is behind on socio-economic indicators such as quality of education & maternal mortality.
Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Gurugram add to the wealth of their states. It's crucial to look at district data because the 15th Finance Commission's calculation ignores intra-state inequality.
Last month, finance ministry celebrated the fact that 'per capita income has more than doubled to Rs 1.97 lakh' since 2014. Congress claims per capita income grew '259 per cent' under UPA.
MP-Bundelkhand is silently increasing its economic might, powered by its agricultural sector. Growth in Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand, on the other hand, has stagnated.
The ISA should champion a Global Solar Asset Registry for standardised project information, and establish a Solar Credit Guarantee mechanism to mitigate political and currency risks.
Mini deal will likely see no cut in 10% baseline tariff on Indian exports announced by Trump on 2 April, it is learnt, but additional 26% tariffs are set to be reduced.
BJP has no dynastic succession, at least not at the top. You can trace this back to Vajpayee-Advani era. This act of spotting, empowering younger talent is even more striking with the choice of BJP presidents.
What is most remarkable to me about India’s GDP growth is not that it’s now the fourth largest in GDP terms, but that it outpaced the IMF’s November 2024 projection that India would pass Japan’s GDP in 2 years, so around November 2026. The robustness of the growth can be seen in the fact that India became the 4th largest in just 6 months of IMF’s projection. That is ~80% sooner than projected.
Read that and none the wiser as to the size of the challenge so I went to the IMF. Here it is:
GDP per capita PPP (IMF-2025):
1. USA: I$89,100;
2. RoKorea: I$65,000;
3. EU: i$64,500;
4. Japan: i$54,700;
5. Turkey: I$43,000;
6. PRoChina: I$29,000;
7. Mexico: I$25,000;
8. Brazil: I$23,000;
9. Egypt: I$22,000;
10. Iran: I$20,000;
11. Algeria: I$18,000;
12. Indonesia: I$17,600;
13. Vietnam: I$17,500;
14. S.Africa: I$16,000;
15. India: I$12,100;
16. Morocco: I$11,200;
16. Bangladesh: I$10,200;
What is most remarkable to me about India’s GDP growth is not that it’s now the fourth largest in GDP terms, but that it outpaced the IMF’s November 2024 projection that India would pass Japan’s GDP in 2 years, so around November 2026. The robustness of the growth can be seen in the fact that India became the 4th largest in just 6 months of IMF’s projection. That is ~80% sooner than projected.