Savings and loans.

"India's economy picked up speed in December as business conditions improved, marking a rebound for the South Asian nation that had showed signs of a slowdown the preceding month." ET. "The needle indicating so-called animal spirits moved right after holding steady for five straight months," as "Consumer spending boosted tax collection and manufacturers signaled optimism about the future, while services sector saw expansion of new businesses." "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI),...said that India's economy has witnessed improvement in macroeconomic stability due to the slowing down of inflation." ET. "The RBI bulletin further said that the real GDP growth may decelerate from 7 percent in 2022-23 to 6.5 percent in 2023-24. India will be a $3.7 trillion economy in 2023, and move to a fourth place in 2025 and third place in 2027 when it will be a $5.4 trillion economy." "India's retail inflation eased to 5.72 percent in December on an annual basis as against 5.88 percent in November 2022." ET. On an "annual basis" means that the rise in prices was calculated on prices a year earlier when, "India's benchmark inflation rate, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) firmed 5.59% year-on-year in December 2021." ET. As prices have soared households in India have struggled to maintain their expenses. "Recent estimates suggest that the net financial savings of households in India fell to a three-decade low of around 4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first half of the current fiscal, the Financial Express reported." BS. "The net household financial savings are estimated to have been around Rs 5.2 trillion in the first half of 2023 compared to Rs 17.2 trillion in FY22." So, our economic growth has been fueled by households spending Rs 12 trillion of their savings and at some point they will have to cut down their expenses. However, India turned up in force at this year's World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland (NDTV), as emissaries form India "have taken over at least eight storefronts with appeals to the elite gathering's political and business class". CNN. If it can maintain its growth rate, "India can overtake Germany as the world's fourth largest economy in 2026, knock Japan from the number three spot in 2032 and become only the third country with GDP worth $10 trillion by 2035." However, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are bearish as "In less than three weeks, on a net basis, these fund managers have taken out nearly $2.1 billion (over Rs 17 thousand crore or Rs 170 billion) from the domestic stock market, data from CDSL showed." TOI. As foreigners have reduced their exposure, domestic investors have poured Rs 1.5  trillion in the stock markets through systematic investment plans (SIPs) in 2022. ET. At the same time personal loans against "fixed deposits, advances against shares or bonds, loans against gold jewelry and other personal loans - grew by 71% between April 2020 and November 2022," wrote Rajrishi Singhal. Are Indians gambling on the stock markets from their savings and by taking loans? We hope not.