India cannot be boxed into black and white or linear equations, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company’s Managing Director Nilesh Shah said at the Kotak International India Insight Summit at The Metropolitan Club, New York.
“India doesn’t disappoint anyone, neither the optimist nor the pessimist. For whatever one says about India, the opposite is also true,” he said, describing the country as a democracy of 1.46 billion people where diverse thoughts “pulse like the very heartbeat of the nation.”
Speaking of India’s environmental record, Shah said the country ranks third globally in total greenhouse gas emissions after China and the United States, yet its per capita emissions remain among the lowest in the G20. India, he noted, has boosted its forest cover by 191,000 hectares, securing third place worldwide for annual net gains over the past decade.
He added that while coal still powers 74% of India’s electricity, the nation became the first G20 country to achieve its COP26 non-fossil energy capacity target, 51%, five years early. “In Pavagada the world’s largest single-location solar PV plant sprawls across 56 square kilometers, harnessing the sun at unprecedented scale,” Shah said.
On global trade, he pointed out that despite lacking a comprehensive tariff deal with the United States, India faces among the steepest duties, 50% on key exports. Yet, he said, India and the US recently signed a 10-year defence framework, strengthening ties in security and innovation.
India, he added, honours US sanctions on Iran and Myanmar and recently secured a six-month exemption for the Chabahar Port to ensure humanitarian access. “We import far less Russian energy than China or the EU, yet face an extra 25% U.S. tariff as the sole target for such a penalty,” he said.
India’s linguistic and cultural diversity, Shah said, is unmatched, over 1,600 languages are spoken, while the country simultaneously holds the world’s largest English-speaking population.
He highlighted economic contrasts, noting India’s per capita GDP of $2,940, ranking 136th globally, yet standing as the fourth-largest economy, surpassing $4 trillion in nominal GDP this year. Despite a consolidated fiscal deficit above 7% of GDP, Shah said India is the only major economy to reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio between the 2008 financial crisis and the post-COVID period.
India contributes 8-10% of global GDP growth and nearly 18% on PPP terms, he said, adding that foreign investors own controlling stakes in several leading Indian companies across sectors such as banking, telecom, and FMCG, unlike in most major economies.
He also cited India’s technological milestones, including Agnikul Cosmos’s 3D-printed rocket engine, Chandrayaan-3’s successful soft landing at the Moon’s South Pole, and the record 104-satellite launch by ISRO. “In AI, we lack a homegrown foundational model, yet partnerships with Jio and Airtel have enabled access for over 800 million Indians,” he said.
Concluding, Shah said India’s contradictions define its character. “From one window, the Jio World Centre gleams; from the other, Dharavi endures. Both coexist, intertwined, within a stone’s throw. India demands an open heart and mind, to feel the chaos that births creation, the contradictions that fuel progress.”
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