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2023/08/04 16:17:39

Economy of India

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Main article: India

Labour market

Demographic curse

According to the United Nations Development Program report "Shaping the Future: How Changing Demographics Can Power Human Development" (2017), to absorb the "demographic dividend" (in the new economic reality, perhaps a "demographic curse"?) India will need to create 280 million new jobs by 2050. Just. What does not happen and did not happen for a long time.

According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the Indian economy lost about 2 million jobs in 2017. At the same time, the population included in the labor force decreased from 406.5 million to 404.6 million people[1].

The immediate reason is the negative effect of demonetisation of the end of 2016 and intense competition in the textile industry from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, as well as the introduction of a new unified sales tax in the summer of 2017. The long-term structural cause is industrial workplace automation/robotization and reshoring.

Unlike aging developed economies (and some developing, including Russia), the working-age population of India is replenished annually by about 1%, or 10 million people (9.7 million in 2017, up to 960 million people). Accordingly, the labor market should absorb most of these people (not all 100%, since suppose that some of the youth study longer, even if this share is very small).

According to Labour Bureau statistical yearbooks, in the period 2011-2015, only 7 million jobs were created (from 455 million to 462 million). In fact, the Indian economy grew (the average annual growth rate GDP in 2011-2017 was 6.6%, per capita it was much less - 5.4%), almost without creating new jobs against the background of serious demographic growth (over the period 2011-2015, the share of population participation in the labor market decreased from 55.4% to 52.4%).

The pace of contraction has accelerated in recent years. Thus, in 2017, the share of population participation in the labor market decreased from 46.9% to 44.5% (already very low compared to developed countries, which is somewhat explained by the high level of participation in men - 75% and very low in women - 23.7%).

Formal employment in India accounts for only about 15% of all employment (worse than, for example, Mexico, but better than most African countries).

At the same time, more than half of the population is employed in the unproductive agricultural sector, in the service sector - about a third, the share of industry - about 12%. In addition, it has not changed significantly for almost 30 years, as well as the share of industry in GDP of 15% - a clear sign of premature deindustrialization according to Rodrik (more here).

The service industry can hardly be called a generator of high-performance jobs. India is rightly proud of giants in the field information technology like Infosys and. Wipro However, the entire ITBPO (information technology and) sector outsourcing business processes in India gives jobs, according to various estimates, from 1 million to 5 million people. That's less than 1% of jobs.

Limitations of the caste system. Wealth for the Chosen

At the same time, the labor market is superimposed on a rigid caste system that supports and increases inequality. Jobs in ITBPO are almost exclusively for the few well-educated representatives of the highest castes (primarily Brahmins and Vaishyas). Basically, the service sector is exclusively primitive: street vendors, security guards, cleaners, etc. These medieval mass professions are occupied by lower castes.

Impressive growth GDP India in the last decade has not changed the structures of the economy and has not led to the formation of productive jobs. Two-thirds of the growth was in the financial sector and real estate (FIRE - finance, insurance, real estate) with the actual stagnation of industry.

As a result, the fruits of economic growth were almost exclusively used by high-caste elites.

Approximately half (and eight of the top 10) of the 101 Indian billionaires on the Forbes list belong to the same caste - Bania, mainly from the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat (Mahatma Gandhi was also Gujarati Bania). This caste includes less than 1% of the population of India. But, according to economist Aakar Patel, the share of bathing in national income is 24%.

Bania is a caste of varna (estate) merchants - Vaishiev. Vaishyas in traditional Hindu society are a privileged class of "two-born" along with Brahmins (clerics and teachers) and Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers). Below - Shudra (peasants) and those outside the traditional estate division are untouchables - Dalits.

Caste borders in India are strictly observed for 2017 - the share of inter-caste marriages does not exceed 5%. Of the remaining half of billionaires, there are also many representatives of traditional powerful trading clans, for example, Parsis (descendants of Zoroastrians who fled to India after the invasion of Islam in Persia). Billionaires Brahmins are also found, mainly they succeeded in the IT sector (by the way, Brahmins and Vaishyas control almost all media in the country, the judicial system and the civil service are the traditional privilege of Brahmins).

Inequality in India is growing, as well as around the world: according to the study by Tom Piketty and Luke Chansel "Indian Income Inequality, 1922-2014: From British Raj to Billionaire Raj?," The share of national income accounted for by the 1% richest rose in 2014 to a maximum from the colonial 1922 - 22%.

The situation of the lower castes, the Muslim minority and the 170 million group of untouchable Dalits (more than the entire population of Russia) is still not much different from the medieval one. 70-80% of Dalits are illiterate, 90% are landless farm laborers, thousands of whom commit suicide annually due to debts, thousands become victims of violence by representatives of higher castes for various "sins" like attempts to use public wells or roads (historian Mridu Rai calls what is happening a caste war).

Few can take advantage of quotas for the representation of the untouchable and other lower castes and tribes in power - the educational qualification is too high. At the same time, all "warm" places have long been appropriated by subcasts of untouchables loyal to the system.

Interestingly, Mahatma Gandhi, revered around the world, is largely responsible for the current caste apartheid. He, despite the successful politpiar (vegetarianism, fasting, satyagraha, non-violence, spiritual practices, "poverty rituals," the image of a "saint"), acted as an apologist for the caste system and at certain periods held completely racist views (see, for example, B. R. Ambedkar, S. Anand, Arundhati Roy "Annihilation of Caste: The Annotated Critical Edition").

The destruction of the caste system, the exit of the untouchables from Hinduism and the transition to any other religion was advocated by Gandhi's political opponent - Dalit Dr. Ambedkar, little known outside India. Gandhi took Ambedkar's call as a threat to the caste system and, as a sensitive politician, advocated the integration of the untouchables into Hinduism.

Be that as it may, GDP growth in the last 20 years, on which the population of Indian high-caste billionaires rose (in 2014, the Forbes Indian list was twice as short as in 2017), practically did not affect the poorest low-caste segments of the population. In general, and in the middle too.

By the number of billionaires, India ranks fourth in the world (after the United States, China and Germany). But the number of simply wealthy people with assets from $1 million to $5 million on the scale of the country is simply tiny - 245 thousand (according to Credit Suisse). This is less than, for example, in Austria or Belgium, which have more than a hundred times less population.

Robotization and Automation

To grow the well-being of the general population, good jobs are needed. And they don't show up. Rather the opposite. There are few large companies in India - only 1.4% of companies have more than 10 employees, while the share of large enterprises is falling, in 1990 there were just over 3% (and they accounted for 37% of all employment, and now - 21%). This is partly due to the mistakes of economic policy, partly because India's industrial sector is experiencing the same phenomena as around the world: gradual automation and robotization of jobs.

Interestingly, automation already affects the most productive sectors - IT companies and the pharmaceutical industry. Despite the industry's revenue growth of 8.6% in 2016-2017 (India's fiscal year ends in March), employment growth was just 5%, according to IT industry association Nasscom. And in the next three years, Nasscom expects a 20-25% reduction in industry employment due to the introduction of automation and machine learning. Industry leaders Infosys and Wipro have already cut 8-9 thousand and 3.2 thousand jobs, respectively, and this is just the beginning.

At risk of automation/robotization and reshoring is also the largest industry sector in terms of employment - the production of textiles, clothing and footwear (6% of GDP, 14% of industrial production, 13% of exports), which employs about 35 million people (and about 95 million, given the associated employment in the agricultural sector).

Indian officials have covered mountains of paper, predicting employment growth in the industry (for example, the Vision, Strategy, Action Plan for Indian Textile Sector strategy of 2015 planned to create another 35 million jobs by 2025). However, according to estimates by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the introduction of automation in the industry can free up up up to 86% of those employed in Vietnam and up to 88% in Bangladesh. The ILO economists did not consider the Indian textile industry, but it is hardly technically more perfect than in these countries.

In total, according to the calculations of the report of the McKinsey Global Institute "India's Labor Market: A New Emphasis on Gainful Employment, "published in the summer of 2017, with modern technology in India, 52% of all today's jobs can be automated. In principle, these figures do not differ much from the possibilities of automation in other countries (for China, for example, McKinsey gives a level of 51%), but in India the situation is complicated by the growth of the able-bodied population.

2022: Proportion of workers aged 65 or over - above 20%

Data for 2022

2011: More than 13.6% of workers work 60 or more hours a week

Data for 2015 Data for China - for 2009, for Russia - for 2010, for India - for 2011

Incomes of the population

2023: Minimum wage - $95

Minimum wage in countries of the world for January 2023

2020: Per capita income in Indian states

Per capita income for Indian states

GDP

Main article: India's GDP

Non-financial debt

2022: Aggregate non-financial debt

Source: Spydell Finance, November 2022
Comparison of the 1 quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2008
Non-financial debt from September 2004 to March 2022

National debt

The ratio of public debt to the country's GDP

2023: State debt - 83% of GDP

Data for September 2023

2017: State debt - 71% of GDP

The ratio of public debt to the country's GDP, 2017

Public debt per capita

At the end of 2018

External debt

2019: Debt to Russia - $1.7 billion

with
Countries the largest debts to Russia, 2019. We are talking about both the debts of states and the debts of legal entities guaranteed by states.

Gold and foreign exchange reserves

2022: Reserves cut to $580 billion

By July 2022, RBI reserves fell from their peak of $642 billion by more than 10% from September 2021. However, their current level of $580 billion continues to remain in fifth place in the world.

2021

Reserve growth to $600 billion

According to the head of the Central Bank Shaktikanta Das, by the beginning of June 2021, foreign exchange reserves, India by all indications, exceeded 600 billion dollars US dollars, which is a huge buffer that will help isolate the third largest economy from Asia global side effects and unstable external flows.

India moves Russia from 4th place in the world in terms of reserves

In March 2021, foreign exchange reserves India outperformed Russia and became the fourth largest in the world, as the country's central bank continues to accumulate dollars to protect the economy from any sudden outflows.

Indian foreign exchange assets fell 4.3 billion dollars to $580.3 billion as of March 5, the Reserve Bank of India said, but beat Russia's $580.1 billion.

China has the largest reserves, followed by Japan and Switzerland in the IMF table.

Sovereign Wealth Fund

As of 2022

Rupee and Cryptocurrency Currency

Digital Rupee (CBDC-R)

Main Article: Digital Rupee (CBDC-R)

Cryptocurrencies in India

Main article: Cryptocurrencies in India

2022: Record drop in rupee to dollar

By the end of August 2022, the Indian rupee had fallen to an all-time low against the dollar.

2019: $291 billion worth of rupees in circulation

The gold supply as of August 2019 is $8.7 trillion, the US dollar supply is $1.7 trillion.

thum
​Obyem of cash in circulation (in USD UNITED STATES). Data for 2019]]

Budget

2023: World's biggest budget deficit: 10% in 4 years

From 2020 to 2023, India recorded an exorbitant budget deficit of 10.1%, compared with a deficit of 7% of GDP from 2013 to 2019, which is worse than in any other country in the world.

Inflation

2022

Inflation in November - 6.8%

Data for November 2022

August - inflation rises to 7%

Inflation in India accelerated to 7% in August 2022 due to high food prices.

2021

Although the Reserve Bank of India aims to keep retail inflation at 4% in the middle of the target range of 2% -6%, price increases exceeded the upper limit in May and June 2021.

2020

Key rate

2023: Key rate increase to 6.5%

Banks and lending

2024: Boom in salaries of banking specialists

By March 2024, India's top traders are receiving millions in salaries. Ambitious Indian finance professionals have never done so well. Amid rising wealth and fear of investors missing out on their chance, the country has become a global recruiting hotspot.

2023

Low household debt: 46% of GDP

India bank headcount rises to 1.8m

Stock market

2024: Capitalization growth to $4 trillion

Businessmen

Billionaires in India

2023: Top 1% of Indians own 40% of the country's wealth - record since 1961

Wealth, concentrated in the hands of the richest 1% of residents, India is at its highest level in 60 years, and the percentage of income exceeds a similar figure in countries like Brazil and, the USA World Inequality Lab research group found.

By the end of 2023, India's richest citizens owned 40.1% of the country's wealth, the highest since 1961, and their share of total income was 22.6%, the highest since 1922.

2022: Confiscation of property of residents who accepted Chinese and Pakistani citizenship

India confiscated the property of residents who took China citizenship and. Pakistan As The Economic Times reported in February 2023, citing the MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Indian government in 2018-2022 raised $410.7 million from the sale of this property, which was transferred to income. states

The confiscation and sale included shares and other securities, the shares of emigrants in 152 Indian companies, as well as 1.6 tons of gold and over 26 tons of silver in local banks that left India.

2021: The richest 1% of citizens account for 40.6% of the population's assets

2020: 4th in the world in the number of billionaires - 102

As of 2020

Minerals

2023: Discovery of a large lithium deposit

In mid-February 2023, Indian authorities announced the discovery of the world's largest lithium deposit. The volume of lithium in the deposits found in the states of Jammu and Kashmir is reported to be 5.9 million tonnes. Read more here.

2022

9th in the world in uranium mining with 600 tons

Data for 2022

15 million people involved in small-scale mining

As of 2022

2021

India's share of global rare earth mineral production - 1%

Data for 2021

Oil production per day

Oil production in thousands of barrels per day by country in 2021

2018: 5th in terms of mining output

Mining leaders in 2018

Power

NPP

The average delay in the construction of NPP power units is 3 years. As of the end of 2023

2023: Construction of the world's largest solar wind farm

In mid-August 2023, Indian company Adani Green Energy Limited announced the completion of the world's largest solar wind farm. The site is located in the Indian state of Rajasthan in the northwest of the country. Read more here.

2022:19 nuclear reactors in operation

Data as of 2022

2021: Dependence on coal in the electric power industry

India and China defended the future of coal for a reason at the Glasgow climate summit in November 2021: no country has introduced more coal-fired power plant capacity than these two major issuers in the past decade.

In 2021, China and India produce a total of 14 million tons per day. Not only does coal still play a crucial role in meeting their current energy needs, it also looks set to play that role for many more decades.

2020: Low per capita energy consumption

and
Energy consumption per capita, including electricity, transport heating in 2019-2020

Production

Main article: Manufacturing in India

Foreign trade

Main article: India's Foreign Trade

Import of oil, petroleum products, gas and coal

Main article: Import of oil, petroleum products, gas and coal in India

Information Technology

Digitalization of India's public sector

Main Article: IT in India's Public Sector

Semiconductors (Indian market)

Main Article: Semiconductors (Indian Market)

India IT Market

Main Article: India IT Market

Smartphones (Indian market)

Main article: Smartphones (Indian market)

Export of computer equipment and IT services from India

Main article: Export of computer equipment and IT services from India

Digital India

Main article: Digital India

Financial Technology

Main article: Financial Technology (Fintech) in India

Cars

Main article: Cars in India

Agriculture

2021

In the five largest countries supplying rice (120.55 million tons)

Largest rice supplying countries in 2021, million tons

Share of agricultural land - 60%

Доля agricultural land from the total area of ​ ​ the countries of the world, 2021

2019: Low use of pesticides in agriculture

As of 2019

Tourism

2020:38 UNESCO-protected World Heritage Sites

The number of UNESCO-protected World Heritage Sites as of August 2020

2018: India is among the top countries in terms of tourism revenue

Data for 2018

1900

A Journey Through India, 1900

Gold market

2021: Gold Jewelry World Market# 2

Alcohol market

Wineries

2021: India alcohol consumption map by state

India alcohol consumption map by state, 2021

2018: Minimum age to purchase alcoholic beverages

Data for 2018

R&D

2020: R&D spending - $48.1 billion

R&D expenses, as of 2020

Astronautics

Main article: Cosmonautics in India

Real estate

2020:49% of urban population lives in slums

Consumption

2023

Take-off consumption of low-quality food

In 2023, global junk food giants see countries like India as a lifeline as public awareness of healthy eating grows in Western markets.

Fish consumption is higher than meat consumption

The most consumed type of meat (including fish and seafood) according to data available for June 2023.

Notes