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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
The latest GDP data, albeit impressive, belie the oft-repeated consumption breakout story and green shoots. Even more worrying is the unequal nature of consumption.
On 17 May, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a bold projection. “The Indian consumer market is likely to double by 2031, there is a $2.9 tn opportunity in that,” she said, citing an S&P report at the Annual Business Summit of the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Two weeks later, the government announced India’s 2023-24 GDP growth number. Here, private consumption—a key component of GDP—showed signs of strain rather than opportunity.
The divergence between what the government would have you believe and the actual data is hard to miss.
Private final consumption expenditure, or PFCE, grew at a rate less than …
