Aiming high.

"India's higher nominal GDP growth in FY 27 is likely to help the government keep its fiscal deficit under control," "while real economic growth may moderate from FY 26 levels amid global headwinds, higher inflation is expected to lift nominal GDP growth, supporting tax collections and helping the Centre manage its finances." ET. High inflation reduces the value of the rupee and the value of our earnings and wealth but is great for our rulers. That's what matters in India. "Given wages (after inflationary erosion is accounted for) have not grown across livelihoods, households have been forced to meet consumption expenses through borrowing." This "explains the fall in India's household net financial savings, to a historical low of 5.2% of gross national disposable income (GNDI) in FY 23 from its longstanding average of 7-8%," And, "resulting in a combined household debt - outstanding secured and unsecured loans - breaching 40% of GDP by the end of 2023," wrote Prof Deepanshu Mohan & Srisonia Subramoniam. "Bank lending accelerated in the April-June quarter of FY 27, but deposit mobilisation continued to trail credit growth, widening the funding gap across the banking system and highlighting mounting pressure on banks' liability franchises, according to the Times of India." ET. "Earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India aims to achieve developed country status by 2047, the centenary of its independence from the British Empire." "While the country has 167 billionaires, more than 129 million people still live below the poverty line," and "over half the country's fifth grade students struggle to read at a second-grade level." Restrictive labor laws mean that "while 46% of India's labor force works in agriculture, the share of manufacturing workers declined from 12% to 11% between 2023 and 2024." World Finance. "The just-released sixth National Family Health Survey shows that India's child malnutrition rate was at a substantial 32% in 2023-24," "far higher than sub-Saharan Africa's 20-22% levels." Wasting was at 19% compared to just 7% in 35 African nations. Even malnutrition among adults is higher. The number of women with body mass index below 18.5 (the threshold for adult malnutrition) has risen from 18.7% in 2019-21 to 19.7% in 2023-24, while that of men has risen from 16.2% to 19.7%, a rise of 15%. TNIE. India must grow at 8% per annum over two decades to become a developed economy. "Yet, from 2014-2024, the economy grew at only 6.2% annually (base 2012), compared to 7.8% per annum over 2004-2014." In 2024, there were 330 million non-farm workers in India's 610 million workforce and about 28 million educated youth were looking for jobs. "Shockingly, 40% of all youth (15-29 years) in the workforce are in unpaid family labor," wrote Profs Santosh Mehrotra & Jajati Parida. "In May, the NCRB reported that 63% of all suicide victims came from economically insecure households." These problems are being created by India's success in services. "India's services exports, which were almost nothing in 1995, have risen to $418 billion in 2025-26, nearly as large as goods exports (442 billion). Add $144 billion that India gets from remittances from Indians abroad - you could call this labor exports - and you find that goods exports have become a minority." "In 2025-26, low-skilled goods exports totaled $187 billion against $254 billion for high-skilled manufactures and $412 billion from services (mostly high-skilled)," wrote Swaminathan Aiyar. Fall of low-skilled exports means lower earnings for low-skilled workers. Which explains rising malnutrition among children and adults. The solution seems to be simple. Intense education and high nutrition for our children and we can expand high- skilled exports. But then, 28 million educated youth are still looking for jobs. Developed country? First get to sub-Saharan level.