Roaring growth. For some.

"RBI governor Shaktikanta Das has said that GDP growth for the second quarter of FY24 is likely to surpass expectations based on early indicators. The central bank had projected a GDP growth of 6.5% for the second quarter, which aligns with the full-year growth forecast for FY24." TOI. "Noted economist Kaushik Basu has said that the Indian economy is in a 'sweet spot' and that India is in a better position than other countries to deal with the current global economic challenges," and "one of the main reasons India is in a sweet spot now is that China has slid behind." BT. But then, the GDP in Afghanistan contracted by 20.7% in 2021, Sri Lanka contracted by 7.8% in 2022, Myanmar grew by 3.0% in 2022, Nepal grew by 5.6% in 2022 and Pakistan grew by 6.2% in 2022 after contracting by about 1% in 2020. World Bank. That's all our neighbors. So, do those numbers make our spot sweeter? India's middle class "is the fastest rising segment of India's population, growing at 6% per year, while the middle-class in Europe and the US has already matured and is growing at less than 1%," wrote Ejaz Ghani. "The middle class currently represents 31% of India's population and is expected to reach 40% by 2031." "This class is driving consumption growth, which in turn is driving rapid economic growth." "Burgeoning demand for all kinds of durables, from cars to refrigerators, can be traced to this class." Monica Halan admired the "growth roar" of the Indian middle class. Between 2011-12 and 2020-21, income of those earning between Rs 550,000 and Rs 2.5 million grew by 20%, those earning between Rs 250 million and Rs 500 million saw a growth of 24% and income of those earning Rs 100 million grew 20%. And since the Gini coefficient (Investopedia), fell from 35.7 in 2011 to 34.2 in 2021, according to the World Bank, inequality has actually fallen. These numbers do not account for inflation. "For the April-June quarter (2023), the real monthly earnings of regular wage workers have declined 0.5% per annum compared to their 2019 level." "The decline was greater when compared to 2017-18, at an average 1.8% per annum," wrote Prof Himanshu. The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) showed that "the unemployment rate in the country has fallen to a six-year low of 3.2%." DH. However, "In the non-agricultural sector, the share of people who had informal employment increased from 71.4% in 2020-21 to 74.3% in 2022-23." And "the share of the self-employed persons has risen from 55.6% in 2020-21 to 57.3% in 2022-23, and the share of regular wage-earners and salaried persons has fallen from 21.1% to 20.9%." "India's mission to bring its workforce into formal jobs is faltering," wrote Andy Mukherjee. The government brought in the goods and services tax (GST) because "To them higher revenue collections mean a more formal economy. And vice versa." While the production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme has created fewer than 200,000 jobs. "This when 40 million Indians are enrolled in higher education." Sugar-coating can hide bitterness. Does not eliminate it.