It's not philosophy.

"Out of 393 high wealth individuals in the world, 2.8 million are in India (0.7 percent). 90 percent of the people of India have wealth less than the 10000-dollar mark." DNA. $10000 converts to Rs 8,24700 at today's rate of Rs 82.47 to one dollar. xe.com. "In the wealth pyramid, said the old report, 70 percent of Indian families own just 20 percent of wealth." "India hosts just 4 percent of the global middle class (wealth between $10,000 and $100,000). China, on the other hand, contributes nearly one-third of this number." Owing to reforms "India was able to reduce poverty - from 40% in 2004 to 10% in 2019 - however, the drop in poverty merely resulted in an increase in the number of low-income population," wrote Prof Nilanjan Banik. "Data from the recently published India Consumer Economy 360 survey" show that "Between 2016 and 2021, people in the bottom 20 quintile have seen their income growth decline by 20% whereas those in the top 20 quintile have seen their income grow by 20%." "In a short span of 10 years, India has gained positions in the world order with significant positive consequences for the macro and market outlook, Morgan Stanley Research has said in a report." TOI. This report is "an exercise in cherry picking," wrote Vivek Kaul. Once repatriation/disinvestment and the growth of the economy are taken into account, the foreign direct investment (FDI) "figure for 2022-23 stands at 1.2% of GDP, having peaked at 3.5% in 2008-09. In the last 10 years, it has ranged from 1.2% to 2.1%." Corporate income tax collections fell to 3.5% of GDP in 2018-19 from 3.9% in 2007-08. Figures from "30,000 companies, both listed and unlisted, tracked by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), suggest that from 2008-09 to 2020-21, total sales went up by 21%. Profit after tax - thanks to lower tax rates and lower interest rates - went up by a whopping 237%." Worst of all, "in 2015-16, the size of India's agriculture sector was around 4% bigger than manufacturing (in nominal terms). In 2022-23, agriculture was 25% bigger than manufacturing. This was despite increasing tariff protection and programs like production-linked incentives to encourage companies to make in India." "Investment rate has recovered to 29.2% in 2022-23," having fallen to 27.3% in 2020-21 from 35.8% in 2007-08, wrote Vivek Kumar. "Venture capital (VC) investments in Indian startups plunged over 38% in 2022." ET. From $33.8 billion in 2021 to $20.9 billion in 2022. Sequoia, "The fund that just sold India as the hottest venture capital market to global investors and raised $2 billion last year - the largest ever - is itself leaving the country in a huff," wrote Arijit Barman. Except for Accel Partners and Lightspeed Venture, none of the top 10 VCs in the world are in India. Over 800 million people are getting free food grains from the government's Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana. NDTV. Does that reduce poverty? Can a patient, stable on intravenous nutrition, be seen as healthy? The debate is becoming philosophical. When poverty is factual.