Amid the sullen faces of the armchair, left-liberal economists, the latest figures released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation state that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a record pace of 20.1 per cent in the first quarter of FY22 — the highest-ever GDP growth in a single quarter.
The numbers have given a tight slap to the faces of the scavengers of the media and elite supremacist economic pundits who tend to provide a communal colour to India’s growth rate by terming it as ‘Hindu rate of Growth’.
To break it down for the reader, the term ‘Hindu rate of growth’ was used for the low annual growth rate of the economy of India before liberalisation in 1991. During this phase, from the 1950s to 1980s, the growth rate had stagnated at around 3.5 per cent, despite the per capita income growth averaging around 1.3 per cent.
While terrorism might not have a religion, despite the fanatics claiming to kill and bomb in the name of same — the economic downturn of a country and in particular India, certainly has a religion and that is ‘Hinduism’. Despite the fact that every religious majority and minority is an equal part of the economic story of the country.
However, few western colonialists and their internal stooges dubbed the snail-pace of economic growth of India undertaken by the socialist regimes of Nehru and successive Congress governments as Hindu rate of growth.
The Nehruvian socialism was the real reason India’s economic growth rate continued to crawl at a snail’s pace when other nations such as China overtook us and proudly wear the crown of a ‘developed nation’. Since then, the communal and the derogatory term has been stuck like an albatross around the neck of a proud nation.
The real ‘Hindu Rate of Growth’
But alas the dystopia painters of the left-liberal cabal must be having a hard time gawking at the just-released GDP numbers. With the introduction of a nationalist government in 2014, the country has started to see the real Hindu rate of growth. A growth rate that averages in the high 20s while the Christian and Islamic growth rate in America’s and the Middle East continue to take a beating.
The rebound in GDP in the first quarter could have been higher, but it was dragged down due to the second wave of Covid-19, which forced states across the country to impose localised restrictions.
Strong fundamentals of Modi’s NDA vis-à-vis shoddy paint job of UPA-2.0
The sharp rebound in the GDP numbers can also be attributed to the solid fundamentals the government has put in place. When the Modi government took charge of the economy, it decided not to pump prime the economy to steer growth– something that was done extensively by the Congress government and led to skyrocketing inflation.
To paint a rosy picture and keep the public in dark, oil bonds were purchased to keep the price of petrol low, extensive gas subsidies were provided which worked on the populist scale of governance but eventually led to the demise of the UPA-2 regime.
However, under the Modi administration, the average inflation rate between October 2016 to March 2020 has remained around 3.93 percent mark and one might just call this as Modi government’s biggest achievement when it comes to regulating the economy.
India at the cusp of capex cycle
As reported by TFI in one of its op-eds dated August 13, Bank of America in its recent report stated that India sits at the cusp of a multi-year Capex cycle. The brokerage firm believes India could be staring at a Capex cycle similar to that seen between the financial years 2002-03 and 2011-12.
However, it doesn’t come as a surprise. With the government focusing on infrastructure spending, including investment on roads, railways, ports, and low-cost housing despite a raging pandemic, the cyclical growth was manifesting itself.
The government’s impetus through $25 billion surplus allocation for Capex schemes and $27 billion for PLI schemes has sent the right message across to business investors at home and abroad.
Swelling FDI numbers and increased GST collection
Despite the UN Conference on Trade and Development report stating that global FDI flows plunged by 35 percent due to COVID, FDI in India increased by 27 percent to USD 64 billion in 2020 from USD 51 billion in 2019.
The rise in FDI numbers has been pushed up by acquisitions in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. As reported by TFI, last year, Facebook bought a 9.99 per cent stake in Reliance Jio for $5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore), which made it the largest investment for a minority stake by a tech company anywhere in the world.
The GDP numbers were expected to grow as the consumer pent-up demand had led to record GST collections. Reported last month, the GST collection in the month of July saw an increase of 33 percent from the same month last year (July 2020). At the time, TFI had argued that the bumper Rs 1.16 lakh crore GST revenue collection indicates that the economy has started to recover from the onslaught of a global pandemic.
Sensex and Nifty have respectively breached new records while India has raced ahead in the vaccination programme, inoculating over 1 crore vaccines on two separate days, within the span of a week.
The aim of a 5 trillion-dollar economy by 2025 might have taken a momentary beating due to the introduction of ‘unspecified virus of unknown origin’ but as is the case with any Indian success story, we tend to wear insults and expletives as a badge of honour. And thus, the communal ‘Hindu rate of growth’ by a Hindu government will propel India towards the ambitious target of a 5 trillion-dollar economy.