NEW DELHI: Over the last weeks and months we have had mixed tidings about the Indian economy, even while the situation for the world is going from bad to worse.
In India, inflation continues to be defiant and the rupee has steadily lost ground to the dollar. On the other hand, as we just saw around Diwali, consumer sentiment has a bounce, the capital investment cycle is stirring and economic growth for the Indian economy is projected at an enviable 6.5-7%. And then the United Nations Development Programme confirmed that India had crossed the tipping point in its fight against poverty. The 2022 report on global poverty released by the UNDP a fortnight ago, revealed that India lifted a staggering 415 million out of poverty in the 16 years ended 2021. What then do we make of this raft of mixed news on the Indian economy? Should we be hopeful? Or should we fear the worst is yet to come?
To answer this and to thread a cogent narrative we spoke to Bibek Debroy, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). It is an independent body constituted to give advice on economic and related issues to the union government, specifically to the Prime Minister.
