Why Is India Growing Fast While People Still Struggle?

India is growing. But sometimes, it doesn't feel like our lives are growing with it.

A few days ago, my father came home with a bag of vegetables.

He looked at it for a moment and said, "Everything has become so expensive."

He has said this before. My mother says it too. I hear people around me saying the same thing.

And that made me think about something.

Everywhere I look, I hear that India is one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world. We hear about GDP, investments, new companies, infrastructure and how India's economy is getting bigger.

But then you look at an ordinary family trying to manage its monthly expenses.

The two things don't always feel connected.

And honestly, I think that's an important conversation to have.

India really is growing

First, I don't want to pretend that India's economic growth is fake.

It isn't.

India has grown enormously over the last few decades. Manufacturing, services, technology, construction, financial services, transportation and many other sectors have expanded.

India is also now one of the world's largest economies.

That's something worth recognising.

But GDP is basically a measurement of the size and growth of the economy. It doesn't automatically tell us whether every household is feeling better financially.

And that's where the conversation becomes complicated.

A country can become richer overall while millions of people still struggle with their personal finances.

Both things can be true at the same time.

So why doesn't it feel like we're getting richer?

One obvious reason is prices.

If your income increases by 7% but your important expenses increase by 8% or 10%, you don't necessarily feel richer.

You might actually feel poorer.

Think about groceries, rent, transportation, education, healthcare or electricity.

Even when prices don't increase dramatically every single month, the accumulated effect over several years can be huge.

Your salary might have gone up.

But so have your expenses.

That's why looking only at salary growth doesn't tell the whole story. What matters to an ordinary person is how much they can actually afford after paying for everything they need.

Then there is the rupee

Another thing that affects our daily lives is the value of the rupee.

India imports many things, including crude oil, electronics and gold.

When the rupee becomes weaker against the US dollar, imports can become more expensive.

And oil is especially important because it affects much more than just the price of petrol.

Transportation costs affect businesses.

Businesses have to move products.

Products have to reach shops.

And eventually, some of those increased costs can reach consumers.

So something happening in the currency market can eventually show up in the price of something as simple as groceries.

Most people don't think about that when they're standing in a vegetable market.

They just know that their money isn't buying as much as it used to.

But jobs might be the bigger problem

For me, this is probably the more important part of the whole discussion.

Economic growth is useful only when it creates opportunities for people.

India has a huge young population entering the workforce every year.

That can be a massive advantage.

But it also creates a massive challenge.

We need enough productive jobs for all those people.

And getting a degree doesn't automatically guarantee one.

You can see this everywhere.

Students spend years studying, sometimes taking loans or putting enormous pressure on their families.

Then they graduate and start applying for jobs.

Some get opportunities.

Some end up taking jobs completely unrelated to what they studied.

And some keep searching for months or even years.

That doesn't mean people aren't working hard.

Sometimes there simply aren't enough suitable opportunities.

The informal economy matters too

Another thing we don't talk about enough is the quality of employment.

A job isn't just a salary.

There is also job security, working conditions, social security, paid leave, healthcare benefits and the possibility of increasing your income over time.

A large part of India's workforce still works informally.

For someone earning day-to-day, even a small financial shock can become a serious problem.

One month without enough work.

One medical expense.

One family emergency.

Suddenly the entire household budget can fall apart.

So when we talk about India's economic growth, I think we should ask not only:

"How fast is the economy growing?"

We should also ask:

"What kind of jobs is this growth creating?"

And:

"Are people's incomes actually improving?"

India can be growing and people can still be struggling

I don't think these two ideas contradict each other.

India can have strong GDP growth.

India can attract investment.

India can build highways, airports, factories and digital infrastructure.

And at the same time, an ordinary family can struggle to pay its bills.

That's not necessarily proof that the economic growth is fake.

It means GDP is only one part of the story.

Economic growth is a macro-level number.

People experience the economy at the household level.

Those are two different perspectives.

And sometimes there is a big gap between them.

What I think we should actually focus on

I don't think the answer is to simply celebrate India's growth or dismiss it.

Both extremes miss the point.

India needs growth.

But we also need growth that translates into better jobs, higher real incomes, greater productivity and improved living standards.

Because at the end of the day, most people don't care about GDP when they're standing in a grocery store calculating whether they can afford everything in their basket.

They care about whether their income is enough.

They care about whether their children can find decent jobs.

They care about whether one emergency can destroy their savings.

They care about whether life is becoming a little easier than it was for their parents.

That's probably the real test of economic progress.

India's growth story is real.

But the benefits of that growth aren't automatically distributed equally.

And maybe that's the conversation we should be having more often.

Not "Is India growing?"

But:

"Is India's growth actually improving the lives of ordinary Indians?"

Because economic growth should eventually mean something beyond a number on a screen.

It should be something you can feel at home.