In this interview with The Wire, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan talk about his vision for India’s economic future.
“Where is India going today?” Rajan asks in his forthcoming book Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future. Is it surging, having just overtaken the United Kingdom to become the fifth largest economy? Or is it flailing, having settled at a growth rate that’s grossly insufficient for the jobs it needs to create?
By pursuing the ‘Chinese’ path of development focused on low-skill manufacturing exports has India got stuck in past strategies that are losing validity? To compete for the future should India instead focus on service exports, both direct services and manufacturing-related ones? If it chooses the latter route, what are the challenges it must overcome? Most importantly, will the present restrictions on India’s democracy constrain and restrict the creativity it must unleash to realise its potential? And, finally, to sum it up all, can India becomes rich before it become old? Watch the interview to hear his answers.
