Indian economy is fastest growing today

The Indian economy is projected to be fastest growing among major economies in financial year 2022-23, with 13.5% growth in its gross domestic product (GDP) in first quarter, a report by State Bank of India (SBI) economists said. "India’s GDP growth in Q1-FY23 was 13.5%. At this rate, India is likely to be the fastest growing economy in the current fiscal," the report said. In fact, SBI estimates that India will be the third largest economy by 2029. "The path taken by India since 2014 reveals India is likely to get the tag of 3rd largest economy in 2029, a movement of 7 places upwards since 2014 when India was ranked 10th. India should surpass Germany in 2027 and most likely Japan by 2029 at the current rate of growth. This is a remarkable achievement by any standards," said Dr Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic adviser, State Bank of India.

However, even as estimates of India’s GDP growth rate for FY23 currently range from 6.7% to 7.7%, SBI economists believe that it is immaterial. "In a world that is ravaged by uncertainties, we believe 6% -6.5% growth is the new normal," they noted. According to a report by HDFC Mutual Fund, India has been consistently tagged as the fastest-growing major economy in the past few years by multilateral agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A report by Morgan Stanley last month said that India is likely to be the fastest-growing Asian economy in 2022-23. The brokerage expects India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth to average 7 per cent during this period – the strongest among the largest economies – and contributing 28 per cent and 22 per cent to Asian and global growth, respectively. The Indian economy, they said, is set for its best run in over a decade, as pent-up demand is being unleashed.

“We have been constructive on India’s outlook, both from a cyclical and structural perspective, for some time. The recent strong run of data increases our confidence that India is well positioned to deliver domestic demand alpha, which will be particularly important as developed market (DM) growth weakness percolates into Asia’s external demand,” said Chetan Ahya, chief Asia economist at Morgan Stanley in a note. Compared to the rest of the world, India has much lower debt in the economy, noted HDFC MF. "India is among the few economies to have debt lower than the start of the global financial crisis," it said.

What India needs to do in order to continue this kind of economic growth? Political solution is that in the General Elections due in 2024 elect Narendra Modi again and again. He will do the best efforts to make India developed as soon as possible. Policy solution: We continue do heavy investments in fnfrastructure projects creating smart cities, boosting Digital economy, Building new highways, Ensure safe and faster railways network and combine the strength of Ports have more airports, waterways, improve urban transport by spreading metro network and increse the use of public transport, using green fuel for vehicles and change to electric vehicles in a phased manner.

Reform labour laws, reform Land Acquisition laws, Make Indian military stronger by implementing "Made in India" as Global brand. Boost entrepreneurship spirit among youth so that they become job creator rather than job seekers. Agriculture is already focused a lot. Problem lies in lack of awareness among farmers. Make them aware. Modern agriculture is the need of the day and we need to empower the farming sector by giving them more incentives to produce more and high quality output of grains.

India is going to remain as the fastest growing major economy for coming decades. Major point to note down is that our base GDP is very low compared to that of China (closest competitor), so with minor addition (let's say 50 billion a year) rate of increase of Indian GDP will be much higher than that of China for the same amount.(because that amount is negligible for their present GDP) With a GDP of 15 trillion dollars (China) against 3 trillion dollars (for India), India has to grow 5 times the rate to china to add up the same amount of fortune to its treasure.

Number of things need to be done on priority are: Reduce babudom and powers of the IT authorities - they are acting as enforcers. Open mining licences - India has the biggest gold, natural gas and Uranium mines in the world with highest Thorium reserves in the world, but the government is not giving licences and these are underutilized with partial licences and blocks being explored. Get more Indians into the semi-skilled category and provide education and upskilling. Fix the land regulations so that infrastructure projects can follow a timeline and also ensure planting of trees and ecology when they are cut down for highways or railways. Provide major push for Molten Salt reactors, FBRs, Uranium reactors and solar and wind.

Push manufacturing and explore the seabed in India’s territorial waters. Give a major push to Electric vehicles with solar charging stations and put laws in place to enforce solar cells on all buses and trains. Also major push on tech. Invest in science and technology which many governments have failed to do. Have a strong foreign policy to attract investments and ensure we do not violate human rights - stop all the cow ban and silly things like that which distract from economic growth. Cheers!