India has experienced strong economic growth over the past 25 years, averaging around 6-8% annually. This growth has been driven primarily by domestic factors like consumption and the services sector, rather than exports. However, issues with governance and bureaucracy continue to hamper development. If these problems can be addressed, India is well-positioned to continue its economic rise and potentially become one of the largest economies in the world by mid-century.

1. INDIA’S FUTURE
Or prosperity will spread in India
but happiness will not, until we fix governance

2.  Where
are we coming from?
 Where are we today?
 Where are we going in the
future?

3. Even though the world has
just discovered it, the India
growth story is not new
It has been going on for 25 years

4. What is the India
story?

5. 28 years of high growth
Average annual GDP growth
(%)
10
8.9
8
6.0
6
3.5
4
2
1.0
0
1900-1950
1950-1980
1980-2002
2002-2007

6. Population growth is slowing
(%)
2.5
2.2
2.1
2.0
1.5
1.8
1.5
1.0
1.0
0.5
0
1901-1950
1951-1980
1981-1990
1991-2000
2001-2010
Sources: 1900-1990: Angus Maddison (1995), Monitoring the World Economy, 1990-2000:Census of India (2001)

7. Literacy is rising
(%)
100
80
80
65
52
60
40
20
0
17
1950
Source: Census of India (2001)
1990
2000
2010 (proj)

8. When middle class is 50% then the politics will also change
(m)
400
22%
32%
8%
368
300
200
220
100
0
65
1980
2000
Source: The Consuming Class, National Council of Applied Economic Research, 2002
2010

9. Poverty is declining
(%)
50
40
1% of the people have
been crossing poverty
line each year for 25
years
46
30
26
20
16
10
0
Equals ~ 200m
1980
2000
2010

10. Per capita income gains
US$ ppp
1,178
1980
3,051
Source: World Bank
2005

11. India is now the 4th largest economy
It will overtake Japan
between 2012 and 2014
to become the 3rd largest

12. The India model is
unique

13. Drivers of growth
India
East and S.E. Asia
■ Domestic
■ Exports

14. Drivers of growth
India
East and S.E. Asia
■ Domestic
■ Exports
■ Services
■ Manufacturing

15. Drivers of growth
India
East and S.E. Asia
■ Domestic
■ Exports
■ Services
■ Manufacturing
■ Consumption
■ Investment

16. Drivers of growth
India
East and S.E. Asia
■ Domestic
■ Exports
■ Services
■ Manufacturing
■ Consumption
■ Investment
■ High tech, capital
intensive industry
■ Low tech, labour
intensive industry

17. Implications of India model
‘Domestically led’ means:
■ Insulation from global downturns
■ Less volatility
■ We will come out of the global crisis
faster

18. Implication of India model
‘Services led’ raises
uncomfortable questions:
■ Have we skipped the industrial
revolution?
■ How do we take people from farms to
cities?
■ Will SEZ’s be our tipping point?

19. Implication of India model – Consumption led
People Friendly:
Consumption as % of GDP
42%
64%
People Friendly, Less inequality:
Gini Index
India
59%
China
58%
33%
India
41%
Europe
45%
China
U.S.
Brazil
Will India become the next big consuming economy after the U.S.?

20. Reasons for success
India’s success is market-led
whereas China’s is state induced
The entrepreneur is at the
centre of the Indian model

21. Rise of globally competitive Indian companies

22. India has a vibrant private space
■ 100 Indian Companies have market cap of US$ 1bn

23. India has a vibrant private space
■ 100 Indian Companies have market cap of US$ 1bn
■ 1,000 Indian Companies have received foreign
institutional investment

24. India has a vibrant private space
■ 100 Indian Companies have market cap of US$ 1bn
■ 1,000 Indian Companies have received foreign
institutional investment
■ 125 Fortune 500 companies have R&D bases in India

25. India has a vibrant private space
■ 100 Indian Companies have market cap of US$ 1bn
■ 1,000 Indian Companies have received foreign
institutional investment
■ 125 Fortune 500 companies have R&D bases in India
■ 390 Fortune 500 companies have outsourced software
development to India

26. India has a vibrant private space
■ 100 Indian Companies have market cap of US$ 1bn
■ 1,000 Indian Companies have received foreign
institutional investment
■ 125 Fortune 500 companies have R&D bases in India
■ 390 Fortune 500 companies have outsourced software
development to India
■ 2% bad loans in Indian banks (v~20% in China)

27. India has a vibrant private space
■ 100 Indian Companies have market cap of US$ 1bn
■ 1,000 Indian Companies have received foreign
institutional investment
■ 125 Fortune 500 companies have R&D bases in India
■ 390 Fortune 500 companies have outsourced software
development to India
■ 2% bad loans in Indian banks (v~20% in China)
■ 80% credit goes to private sector (v~10% in China)

28. Public space is a problem
We have
■ Dynamic democracy with
honest elections
■ Free, lively media and press
But we also have
Poor governance!

29. Governance Failures
 Corrupt system
 1 out of 4 school teachers absent in
government schools
 2 out of 5 doctors absent in primary health
centers
 Delhi’s water
 Land titles
 Etc

30. Ironically, we used to have world class institutions from
1950-1980, but our problem was growth.
Now we have growth, but our institutions are failing
■ Bureaucracy
■ Judiciary
■ Police

31. The economy
grows at night
when the
government is
asleep

33. Key reforms
■ Opened economy to trade and investment
■ Dismantled controls
■ Lowered tariffs
■ Dropped tax rates
■ Broke public sector monopolies

34. Understanding India’s economic success
 Remarkable --every government has reformed (slowly)
since 1991
 Even slow reforms add up
 65 countries have done the same reforms – why did India
become the second fastest in the world?
 Unappreciated fact – rule of law

35. “By 2010 India will have world’s largest
number of English speakers”
“When 300 million Indians speak a word in a
certain way, that will be the way to speak it.”
Professor David Crystal
Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language

36. Understanding India’s economic success
■ Mental revolution among the young
■ ‘I want to be Bilgay’
■ Raju’s secret of success
■ Banianisation of society
■ 180 TV channels; 65 news channels
■ The rise of Hinglish

37. Where are we today?
 Growth fell to 6.7% in 08-09; 7% in 09-10
 Pain has been less than in China
 Competitive companies have recovered faster.
 Risk of protectionism has receded
 Recovery has been ahead of the world

38. Where are we going?
■ Base case post recovery is 7.5 % – 8.5 % GDP growth
■ Democracy will not permit more than 8% unless you have a Thatcher
■ 1.5% population growth
■ Demographic dividend – growth will continue beyond China’s

39. Per capita income
On a ppp basis
($000)
37,000
40
30
20
16,800
5,800
10
2,100
3,050
0
2000
2005
2020
2040
2066

40. Convergence in the 21st century
■ Why convergence is intuitive?
■ Convergence didn’t happen in the 20th century
because the world was closed
■ Returning to a world of equality prior to 1750
■ When China and India accounted for 45% of world GDP

41. India will gradually turn middle-class
West of the
KanpurChennai line
East of the
KanpurChennai line
50%
50%
Kanpur-
32%
22%
Chennai
8%
1980
2000
2010
2020
2040

42. What could stop the show?
- Infrastructure
- Improving via public-private parterships
- Fiscal Deficit
- Governance
None of these stopped the show in the past 25 years
- Nuclear War?

43. Education System
Is reasonably good for the top 20%
But it is abysmal for the rest
■ 1 in 4 teachers is absent in government
primary schools
■ Hence, 54% of children in urban India are in
private schools
Solution: Education Vouchers

44. Caste system
■ Origin of India’s caste system
■ Classical four castes vs 3000 jatis
■ Hostage to competitive politics
■ Source of competitive advantage
■ Affirmative action

45. Role of Religion
India’s pluralism, diversity
and tolerance
2% 1%
Hinduism
■ Spiritual entrepreneurialism: Gurus
■ No hierarchy:
Every Brahmin thinks he is the Pope
12%
■ 300 million gods:
Lack of theological narcissism
■ Nasadiya Temper
85%
Hindu
Muslim
Sikh
Christian

46. Elephant and not Tiger
■ India got democracy before capitalism and this has made
all the difference
■ It is slower than China but its path is surer
■ However, an elephant at 8% growth is a formidable beast
■ We have waited 3000 years for this moment
■ India is more likely to preserve its way of life

47. The Wise Elephant