Trump’s view on Indian economy ‘dead wrong’

US President Donald Trump described the Indian economy as a ‘dead’ one, along with the Russian economy, soon after failing to clinch a trade deal with New Delhi. Such a remark clearly exposes Trump’s ignorance about how the economies of other countries are performing worldwide, as the Indian economy can’t be termed ‘dead’ using any standard yardstick to judge the health of an economy. Rather, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its report, has predicted that the Indian economy may become the fourth-largest economy by the end of the ongoing fiscal year 2025–2026. For the record, India is among the top five economies in the world at present, with the US, China, Japan and Germany in front—although some economists place India in sixth place by including the European Union (EU) in the list as a nation, forgetting the fact that it is an association of 27 European countries. Furthermore, India currently stands in second place in the list of developing Asian countries after China. It may be mentioned here that, to judge a country’s fiscal health, the best indicator is Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and India has been registering an impressive GDP growth rate for nearly two decades at a stretch, braving all odds like the pandemic, climate change and unstable world situation, which have already derailed many economies in the world.

It is quite strange that while renowned economists have admitted that India’s economic progress has written a new success story of revival, the US President's remark about the country’s economy is a baseless one, to say the least. For his perusal, it may be noted here that the Indian economy is one of the fastest-growing economies of the world, besides being in fifth place among the top 30 major economies of the world, and it is in third place when it comes to purchasing power parity (PPP) with GDP. Moreover, an economy is considered dead when its economic progress stops completely for various reasons such as war, natural calamity, pandemic, etc., which makes progress impossible. But in India’s case, it should be remembered that the country has bounced back even after a shocking 25 per cent contraction of the economy when lockdown was imposed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

But more than the US President’s unkind words towards India, the support extended to him by none other than Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has astonished many, as everyone knows that Trump has made the claims in anger after failing to enter the Indian agriculture market. Earlier, on several occasions, Gandhi had criticised the government for offering undue favour to rich businessmen, ignoring the interests of the marginal sections of society. But when the time has come to oppose the big-brotherly attitude of the US, Gandhi has simply changed sides, even as the entry of the US into the country’s agriculture market would be disastrous. For all of Trump’s opinion, it can be safely argued that India's economy is alive and kicking.