India’s economic growth belies slow development

Martin Wolf is correct that India’s upcoming election might not matter that much for economic policy (“India will rise regardless of its politics”, Opinion, February 6).

But that is simply because neither main party is committed to providing better public services or reducing India’s rising income inequality, which has recently risen sharply as the benefits of economic growth are largely limited to the rich. India’s generally positive macroeconomic outlook is belied by the fact that its average levels of human capital have remained low, with much poorer countries like Bangladesh overtaking India in several measures of human development in the past decade.

Both national and state governments are unable and or unwilling to tackle basic issues of public welfare such as air pollution, despite its obvious negative effects on the general population, and instead resort to caste and religion identity politics and support for the private sector as sources of legitimacy. As elsewhere, India’s economy survives despite its politicians, not because of them.

Elliott Green

Associate Professor, Department of International Development, London School of Economics, UK

Soucre : Financial Times