The "New India" in Perspective
Positive press notwithstanding, it's important to keep perspective on India. In real terms, India's economy today still is an economic minnow -- less than half of the size of California. Only one in 50 households has a credit card. Only one family in six has a refrigerator. What about India's much vaunted "middle class" of 300 million? A narrower definition -- families making more than $4,400 per year -- puts that figure at just 58 million.
And before it takes on the mantle of global economic champion, India must overcome many challenges. India is still a very poor country, where 260 million people -- that's close to the entire U.S. population -- each live on less than $1 a day. The child malnutrition rate is higher than sub-Saharan Africa. Half of Mumbai's population of 14 million live in slums and lack sanitary drinking water facilities. And India's socialist past still weighs heavily on its economy. India today accounts for a smaller share of global merchandise exports than it did in 1947.
Positive press notwithstanding, it's important to keep perspective on India. In real terms, India's economy today still is an economic minnow -- less than half of the size of California. Only one in 50 households has a credit card. Only one family in six has a refrigerator. What about India's much vaunted "middle class" of 300 million? A narrower definition -- families making more than $4,400 per year -- puts that figure at just 58 million.
And before it takes on the mantle of global economic champion, India must overcome many challenges. India is still a very poor country, where 260 million people -- that's close to the entire U.S. population -- each live on less than $1 a day. The child malnutrition rate is higher than sub-Saharan Africa. Half of Mumbai's population of 14 million live in slums and lack sanitary drinking water facilities. And India's socialist past still weighs heavily on its economy. India today accounts for a smaller share of global merchandise exports than it did in 1947.
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