Addressing an event in Delhi, President Droupadi Murmu said the Indian economy had been demonstrating resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges, and the country's economy was likely to grow tenfold by 2047. "India is the fastest growing major economy and is likely to become the third largest economy soon," Murmu said. Just a day after President Murmu lauded the Indian economy, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said India was in its "most precarious and difficult" economic situation.
He said that for the past three decades, the India growth story was one of consumption growth – the story of crores of families escaping poverty and entering the middle class, newly able to afford products and acquire assets. It was the sign of a thriving economy, one that was growing rapidly and distributing its gains widely, the Congress leader said. In the last 10 years, India's consumption story has now gone in reverse swing and emerged as the biggest pain point for the Indian economy.
India Inc. has now joined the chorus, with a leading CEO even going so far as to say that the middle class in India is "shrinking", he said. Ramesh said the reasons for this slowdown are clear – stagnant wages, high inflation, and inequality.
Elaborating on these, he said multiple data sources, including the government's own official statistics such as the recently released Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) 2022-2023, have shown clear evidence that workers can buy less.
