Rapid Growth, Stagnant Lives: Millions of Indians Miss Out on Prosperity, Experts Caution

India’s economy has experienced remarkable growth over the past decade, propelled by a dynamic services sector and expanding technology hubs. Cities in southern and western India now host global corporate centres for firms like Amazon and JPMorgan, offering high-value work in IT, data analytics, innovation, and design. The country has also become a global hotspot for chip design engineers, with firms such as Qualcomm and MediaTek fueling demand and positioning India as the fastest-growing major economy since 2021.

Government reports highlight the surge in opportunities, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing in December that India had surpassed Japan as the world’s fourth-largest economy. Economists note, however, that while the formal announcement may have been premature, the country’s long-term trajectory reflects significant achievements since market reforms in the 1990s and infrastructure investments since 2014. These reforms have underpinned software‑services growth, strengthened major conglomerates, and facilitated a doubling of the economy roughly every decade.

The rapid growth has contributed to a sharp decline in poverty, with the World Bank estimating the proportion of Indians living on $4.20 or less per day falling from 57.7 percent in 2011–12 to 23.9 percent in 2022–23. Rising incomes have also helped expand India’s middle class, now estimated at over 300 million. Economists describe these achievements as “world-beating,” especially when compared with other major economies like Japan, which has seen comparatively stagnant growth.

Also Read: PM Modi Ensures Indians’ Safety Amid Escalating West Asia Conflict

Despite these gains, experts caution that the benefits of India’s boom remain unevenly distributed. Nearly half of the population still relies on agriculture for subsistence, and a large portion of the workforce remains in low-productivity or informal sectors. “There are still a lot of youngsters who are left behind by the progress of our economy,” said Amit Saxena of Ambe International, which sends thousands of blue-collar workers abroad in search of better opportunities. Bhaskar Chakravorti, Dean of Global Business at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, added that India’s services-led growth has supported a relatively narrow slice of the population, leaving wage disparities stark.

Rural regions underscore this unevenness. In Maharashtra, for example, farmers like Nitin Gaikwad supplement meagre incomes through government job schemes, noting that much of the reported progress remains confined to urban metros. “It is an illusion that the country is progressing. The villages have remained untouched,” he said, highlighting the persistent divide between India’s urban economic boom and rural realities.

Economists warn that sustained high growth, averaging around eight percent annually for two decades, is necessary for India to achieve high-income status. Analysts also emphasize the importance of creating quality jobs and shifting workers from agriculture to manufacturing. While India has attracted companies like Apple for assembly work, the country has yet to establish itself as a true manufacturing powerhouse, a factor critical to more inclusive and broad-based economic development.

Also Read: Energy Security for 1.4 Billion Indians Remains Top Priority Says MEA