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India Today
3 days ago
- Business
- India Today
Get rich fast or die trying: India's choice is a no-brainer
Our Saare Jahan Se Achchha nation is stuck in a bizarre spot in an even weirder world in 2025. India's neighbourhood is a geopolitical soap opera: China plays trade partner and border bully, Pakistan is China's eager errand boy, and the US, under a whimsical wheeler-dealer, picks fights with friends. We just stumbled into a war with Pakistan, utterly unnecessary when we had better things to do. The US, predictably, backed its forgotten ally, even though Pakistan's firmly on China's leash. Even Bangladesh is run by a hostile gang of unelected Islamists. Sri Lanka and the Maldives need rescuing, and Myanmar is a tragedy in slow subcontinent is spinning, and so are our heads. India's self-image is closer to its aspirations than the gritty reality of the world. To bridge that gap, India needs to get filthy rich. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently tweaked his "This is not an era of war" mantra to "peace comes from a position of strength". That strength? It's economic muscle, not just military heft is the best armourA May 2025 World Bank report says to hit high-income status by 2047 (PM Modi's target), India needs an average growth rate of 7.8% for the next 22 years. Let's round it up to 8%, because half-measures will not cut it. India's GDP growth has been solid but not spectacular. The stats ministry clocked 6.2% for the last quarter of 2024, with 2025 projections dawdling at 6.5%. Decent, but not enough to outrun China's shadow or buy the toys needed to tame our wild A $4-trillion economy growing at 8.5% adds roughly $340 billion annually (about Pakistan's entire GDP). That's cash for defence, infrastructure, and lifting millions out of poverty. Without it, India risks being a populous but toothless giant, ignored by global players. As the saying goes, money can't buy love, but it sure buys aircraft carriers and friends, in need. We just became the 4th largest economy, but per capita GDP is still abysmal. The population isn't shrinking. The economy must grow. We'll soon overtake Germany to claim the 3rd spot, but the gap with China is Reforms Un-dirty AgainManmohan Singh isn't remembered for his two terms as Prime Minister but for that one stint as Finance Minister. You know why! India's economic story since his 1991 reforms is a tale of bold starts and frustrating stalls. Born from a balance-of-payments crisis — when India had just two weeks of import cover — the 1991 market opening was a giant leap. It slashed the Licence Raj, devalued the rupee, and opened trade, catapulting GDP growth from what is derisively called the "Hindu rate" of 1.25% to a savvy 7.5% by the 2000s. Foreign exchange reserves quadrupled in five years, and poverty rates dropped Modi's first term sparkled with promise: Make in India, GST, and FDI liberalisation. Land reforms were shelved, but other things seemed on track. The second term, however, went full Nehruvian: big government, sluggish disinvestment, populist socialist policies, and a retreat from agricultural reforms after farmer protests in 2020–21. To make matters worse, a global pandemic caused significant damage. The third term, now a year old, does not feel much DilemmaModi promised to get the government out of business, but public sector undertakings (PSUs) remain sacred cows. Manufacturing's share of GDP has slumped to 13%, the lowest since 1967, despite Make in India's lofty 25% target. The Air India sale is the lone silver lining. The government clings to PSU dinosaurs, flaunting their turnarounds as trophies. Running businesses, even profitable ones, isn't the government's job. Niti Ayog says 100 billion dollars lie locked in ReformsOnly 10% of our workforce is skilled, compared to 60% in China. Coupled with a focused Skill India push, the necessary unshackling of the labour market can give impetus to the manufacturing sector, and help realise the Make In India dream. The 2020 Industrial Relations Code eased hiring and firing, but it's stuck in trade union quicksand, including those from the Sangh Parivar. Streamlining labour laws could turbocharge manufacturing and attract global value chains, where India trails Vietnam and Thailand. Labour market reforms could create millions of non-farm jobs, critical for our educated youth, a 2024 UNU report big-ticket Modi promise was improving the ease of doing business. Though India has moved up the global ranking for facilitating businesses, Licence Raj is alive and kicking Black White AgainAgriculture employs 45% of India's workforce but contributes just 15% to GDP. The 2020 farm laws crashed into farmer protests and were repealed in 2021. Since then? Crickets. Farmers called these laws black laws because they alleged lack of consultation. What's stopping the government from consulting farm interest groups now and crafting laws to boost agricultural output? Instead of dodging taunts about failing to double farmers' income, the Centre needs reforms that can actually double their in India & Skill IndiaMake in India is a mixed bag. FDI inflows hit $81 billion in 2020–21, but manufacturing's share of GDP hasn't moved. Skill India, launched in 2015, aimed to train 400 million workers by 2022 but reached only 40 million. Apple, Google, and Tesla may cheer Make in India, but do we have workers matching China's precision tooling and motherboard craftsmanship? A 2025 World Bank report urges doubling down on skills and tech to hit 8% growth. Revamping these initiatives could add 2% to annual GDP, OECD Talks, Poverty WalksIndia's strategic headaches — China's border games, Pakistan's proxy wars, and a potentially isolationist US — demand economic firepower. A richer India can afford $120-billion defence budgets, not the $81-billion it scraped together in 2024. It can fund regional aid, like the $1-billion Nepal package in 2014, to counter China's Yuan-erosity. It can absorb shocks like the 2020 recession or demonetisation's 2016 reduction is the flip side. Despite growth, 40% of India's workforce languishes in low-productivity agriculture. Trickle-down economics has flopped. Income inequality has spiked, and unemployment is unsustainable. Schemes like MGNREGA (2005) and Jan Dhan Yojana (2014) help, banking 300 million unbanked and guaranteeing rural jobs, but they're band-aids. Every election, we have a new set of band-aids. The cure? Grow so fast that wealth actually trickles down. Sustained 8% growth can create the 1 crore+ jobs India needs War ConsensusPM Modi wields more political capital than Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh did in 1991. Free foodgrains, welfare schemes, and rapid infra upgrades have only enriched his clout coffers. He must spend country's mood is electric. We're united against terrorism bred by our western neighbour. To the world, we're a rainbow coalition, with all-party delegations pitching India's story. But if it takes a war to unite us, it's time we declared war on slow growth. If PM Modi can rally the opposition to counter Pakistan's narrative, why not for economic reforms? If we can forge consensus against terrorism, we can do it for growth. If terrorism is non-negotiable for PM Modi, then neither should be his promise of India becoming a "Developed Nation by 2047".India's at a crossroads. It can coast at 6.5% and stay a regional player. Or it can reignite reforms, aim for 10%, and create jobs, buy drones, and gain global clout. Manmohan Singh turned a crisis into opportunity in 1991. PM Modi must turn his conviction into reality. Ditch the socialist nostalgia, privatise the dinosaurs, liberate labour, and supercharge agriculture. Make in India and Skill India need a reboot, not a requiem. Politics can wait; growth can' rising clout isn't about its military. It's about three decades of relentless high growth. Military might is a buy product of economic he navigates the second year of his third term, PM Modi must channel his inner Manmohan Singh, not his inner InMust Watch
Time of India
7 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
India Becomes 4th Largest Economy: What students need to know about GDP, economic growth & global rankings
India has officially outpaced Japan to become the world's fourth-largest economy, marking a historic leap that carries profound implications for its future and global influence. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Speaking at a press conference after the 10th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog, the think tank's CEO, B V R Subrahmanyam, confirmed: 'We are the fourth largest economy as I speak. We are a $4 trillion economy as I speak,' Subrahmanyam said, as quoted by PTI. The peg of this remarkable story lies not only in India's growing GDP but in how this economic metamorphosis reflects shifts in global power, opportunities for young Indians, and the structural evolution of the country's mixed economy. Understanding GDP and its impact on students GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, is the total monetary value of all goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time frame. It is a broad indicator of a nation's economic health, and for students—particularly those studying economics, public policy, or international relations—grasping the implications of GDP is essential. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts India's nominal GDP for 2025 at $4.187 trillion, marginally ahead of Japan's, validating Subrahmanyam's announcement. India's ascent in the global GDP rankings is not merely symbolic. It reflects rising production, expanding markets, and strengthening macroeconomic resilience, all of which influence policymaking, job creation, and global negotiations. How did India get here? A quick economic retrospective India's economic journey has not been linear. Post-independence, India adopted a Soviet-style command economy with extensive state control, known as the Licence Raj. The 1991 balance of payments crisis catalyzed a sweeping liberalisation, ushering in market reforms, deregulation, and increased foreign investment. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Today, India operates as a developing mixed economy—a hybrid of private enterprise and strategic public sector control. It maintains dominance in sectors such as railways, banking, and telecommunications, while simultaneously cultivating tech unicorns and attracting global manufacturers. Subrahmanyam pointed to favourable geopolitical dynamics and hinted at further economic reforms, stating that a second round of asset monetisation would be unveiled by August 2025. India's economic engine: Domestic consumption and global trade Nearly 70% of India's GDP is fuelled by domestic consumption, underlining the critical role of India's burgeoning middle class. Complementing this is India's strong performance in global trade. In 2022, India ranked 10th in imports and 8th in exports, according to WTO data. With the digital economy expanding and infrastructure development accelerating, India's trade capacity is only expected to grow. In addition, India continues to lead in remittance inflows, topping the global chart with receiving remittances of over 100 billion for the third consecutive year, accounting for over 14% of global remittances, as per the World Bank. What this means for students: Key economic indicators to watch For students, understanding the nuances of India's rise requires attention to a broader set of indicators beyond GDP: Index India's Rank Significance Global Firepower Index 2025 4th Highlights India's strong military capabilities alongside economic heft Global Innovation Index 2024 39th out of 133 Indicates scope for growth in R&D and technology-driven transformation Human Development Index 2023–24 134th out of 193 Reflects need for improvement in education, health, and living standards Global Hunger Index 2024 105th out of 127 Underscores inequality and undernutrition in certain population segments World Competitiveness Index 2024 39th Measures ability to generate long-term economic value through reforms Air Quality Life Index 2024 – (Delhi: 84.3 µg/m³ PM2.5) Pollution remains a drag on urban livability and health outcomes Rule of Law Index 2024 79th Points to systemic reforms needed in governance and legal infrastructure World Press Freedom Index 2024 162nd out of 180 Raises concerns about media independence and institutional transparency These indices remind students that GDP alone does not tell the full story. For inclusive, sustainable growth, improvements in human capital, governance, innovation, and environmental health are essential. India's economic future: Third largest by 2028? Subrahmanyam projected that if current momentum continues, 'It is only the US, China, and Germany which are larger than India, and if we stick to what is being planned and what is being thought through, in 2.5-3 years, we will be the third largest economy.' IMF data supports this optimism, with projected growth at 6.5% in both 2024 and 2025, significantly above the global average of 3.3%. However, per capita income still lags behind developed economies. India's per capita GDP is estimated to reach $2,880 in 2025, up from $1,438 in 2013–14—signifying progress, but also room for improvement. Challenges that persist: Growth with inequality Despite impressive macroeconomic numbers, India continues to grapple with jobless growth, income disparity, and low workforce productivity. The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (2024) reported that 234 million Indians still live in acute poverty. This paradox of rising GDP and persistent poverty is a critical subject of study for policy and economics students. Moreover, India's 126th rank in the World Happiness Report and 108th in the Gender Inequality Index show that social development must catch up with financial growth.
Mint
06-05-2025
- Health
- Mint
India should permit easier access to over-the-counter medicines
The liberalization of India's economy, as tracked by an embrace of free-market principles, has been rather slow in chipping away at old precepts of a nanny state. We should thus welcome the government's effort to ease the retail availability of medicines that can safely be sold over the counter (OTC): i.e., without a doctor's prescription. As reported by Mint , the Drugs Technical Advisory Board is seeking a tweak in regulations to first define OTC drugs clearly and then license a wide set of retailers to sell these. As of now, such pills can only be dispensed by chemists with qualified pharmacists behind their counters (or web interfaces). As the report indicates, the government's OTC list is likely to include regular pain-killers, anti-allergics, laxatives, cough syrups, anti-fungal products and some formulations for asthma patients. All of these—and more—are routinely used and widely bought without the explicit advice of doctors anyway. It's just that it involves hunting for chemist shops , which are far fewer than grocery stores. The convenience this proposal would assure buyers is reason enough to back it. Most legacy rules originate in a valid purpose. In general, since the misuse of drugs can be a serious health hazard, access to them cannot go unsupervised. This goes without saying. At stake here, though, are formulations that cause much less harm if used needlessly (or overdosed). Ever since the idea of wider retail supply was first proposed in 2022, it has stoutly been resisted by the All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists and Indian Pharmaceutical Association. Misuse is the key risk they have flagged. To address this worry, the list of OTC drugs must duly be vetted by medical experts and kept judiciously short. But the chemist lobby's expression of anxiety that its members may suffer a sales drop should not influence such a decision. Policy must aim for better health outcomes, after all, not protect businesses. If people at large are deemed capable of decisions on the use of OTC drugs, as they are by definition, we have no reason to restrict OTC sales only to outlets with the capacity to verify medical advice and ensure error-free delivery. Equally invalid is the objection that Indian levels of literacy are too low for our retail rules to be liberalized safely. It amounts to the state playing nanny, an approach we need to outgrow. A tight policy effort to save people from themselves by means of retail curbs could have effects that are not plainly visible. This is a market with relatively inelastic demand. As medicines are mostly bought on a need basis, offtake quantities of moderately priced pills do not vary much in line with price movements. Typically, in any market where supply cannot freely fulfil such demand, space opens up for inflated profits in various links of the supply chain. This was seen in many fields during the heyday of India's Licence Raj. In the case of medicines, a regime of price controls for some drugs has been in place to prevent exertions of monopoly power that may let unfairly large profits be made. This has been accompanied by a loose intellectual property regime that encourages rivalry in segments of off-patent drugs in heavy use. So, by and large, we have not suffered extortive pricing. Yet, price caps aren't foolproof, they don't cover all drugs, and easier retail access to OTC meds may empower the market to keep its own check on prices.
