Exclusive: India’s per capita GDP income has grown very fast in the last decade: PM Modi to News 18

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

In an exhaustive interview to Network 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi iterated that the Indian economy has witnessed significant growth in incomes compared to their peers along with lowest inflation rates in the last 10 years.

Modi spoke with News 18 Group Editor-In-Chief Rahul Joshi, News 18 Kannada Editor, Hariprasad, and News 18 Lokmat Anchor, Vilas Bade

India’s per capita income is currently at around 42 percent (in 2024), a significant increase from 30 percent seen two decades ago under the Congress-led regime, PM Modi said.

The PM was referring to India's per capita income in in comparison to other emerging market economies.

PM Modi termed the coalition government led by Congress “khichdi company” and said that the country’s per capita GDP fell to 30 percent in 2004 from 35 percent in 1998-2004.

“But in 2014, after the formation of the BJP-led government, till 2019, you will be happy to know that we took the figure to 37 per cent. And when I reached the year 2024, this figure was 42 per cent. That means our income has grown very fast as compared to other countries of the world. If you look at the inflation rate in the period of 10 years, which is discussed so much, then these 10 years have seen the lowest inflation,” the Prime Minister added.

Currently, no emerging market is growing between 6 and 7 per cent, India is among the fastest growing emerging markets.

Modi said before 2014 India was identified as a fragile economy, but now the country has a “vibrant economy.”

India’s per capita GDP saw an annual growth of 8.2 percent and 6.5 percent respectively in 2021 and 2022, bouncing back from a contraction of 6.7 percent in 2020 due to pandemic-induced disruption, according to data from the World Bank.

As per latest projections from International Monetary Fund (IMF), growth in India is projected to remain strong at 6.8 percent in 2024 and 6.5 percent in 2025 thanks to robust domestic demand and a rising working-age population.

On the other hand, India's headline retail inflation rate has been on a downward trend of late and eased to a 10-month low of 4.85 percent in March. The country’s central bank expects the headline rate to be at 4.5 percent in FY25.