6.4% growth. That's the IMF's number for India this year, enough to keep it among the fastest-growing major economies on earth, even as the rest of the world wobbles through uncertainty.
But growth numbers don't tell you who's working. And that's where the story gets complicated.
Unemployment is rising. AI is rewriting the rules of what a job even is. So, the question isn't whether India will grow it's what will power that growth, and who gets to be part of it.
Episode 53 of India: A Story in the Making goes looking for answers.
Is AI the opportunity of a generation for India or the disruption that arrives before the safety nets do?
Which sectors carry the next phase of growth and which ones just look good on paper?
And can India's young population still be called its greatest asset, or does that story need rewriting too?
In conversation:
· Tim Willasey-Wilsey, Visiting Professor at King's College London and former British diplomat.
· Vee Bharkhada, Insolvency Expert at NBR, London.
Recorded during Idea for India Week. With thanks to Bridge India for making the conversation possible.
Episode 53 out tomorrow.
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[00:00:00] In 1993 I was posted to Pakistan. I then had a lot to do with India for the next diplomatic years, dealing with Indian government and the old India of files and files where decisions take, you know, three years to come. Suddenly I was in this new India, very democratic India, where decisions are taken in milliseconds. I beg to disagree with that a little bit. 11 million new people come onto the job market every year. The unemployment in India will always be there.
[00:00:27] The jury is out of it. AI is the next generation for Indians. The tech revolution is astonishing. What I see in the youth in India is aspiration. Things have got to change dramatically. Maybe we should ask AI for the answer. If you had trillion dollars, you'd be interested in India when you were invested.