Statistics & Starvation

Expose the Myth of Modi’s Economy

D RAJA, General Secretary, Communist Party of India

India is being paraded on global and national platforms as the world’s fourth-largest economy. With a nominal GDP of nearly $3.9 trillion, the government claims it has scripted an economic miracle. The Prime Minister thunders from every stage about India’s rise under his watch, and media outlets amplify this narrative with breathless headlines. But behind this celebratory façade lies an undeniable reality: this is a growth story scripted by and for the elite, while the majority of Indians continue to suffer from hunger, unemployment, and deepening poverty.

The official GDP numbers obscure more than they reveal. India’s per capita income today stands at around $2,800—or ₹2.33 lakh per person annually. Compare this with Vietnam’s $4,300 and China’s $12,500. In rupee terms, that’s ₹3.57 lakh and ₹10.38 lakh per person respectively. Far from being a global economic leader, India lags behind countries that were once considered its peers or even behind it.

Worse still, this ₹2.33 lakh figure is itself an illusion. The top 1% of Indians control over 40% of the country’s wealth. They are the corporate houses and big business houses owned by people like Adani and Ambani. If we exclude the wealth of this 1%, the remaining GDP available to the rest of India’s 1.4 billion people drops drastically. What remains is about ₹115 lakh crore, leading to an actual per capita income of just ₹82,000 per year, or roughly ₹6,800 per month. If we go further and remove the 62% controlled by the top 5%, the rest of the country is left with ₹89 lakh crore, resulting in a per capita income of just ₹67,000 a year—less than ₹5,600 a month. This is what most Indians survive on. This is not an economy for the people—it is an economy for profit, pomp, and propaganda.

In a country where 80 crore people depend on free ration schemes for their daily survival, celebrating global GDP rankings becomes a grotesque joke. How can the same government that boasts of economic might simultaneously, and shamelessly, also take credit of distributing free rations? If GDP growth is real, who is lining up for free ration? Either the country is shining, or it is starving. It cannot be both. When these contradictions are pointed out, those asking the questions are labelled anti-national. But what is more anti-national: questioning hunger in the face of wealth, or ignoring the hunger entirely? Can a malnourished child in Bihar or an unemployed graduate in Madhya Pradesh eat GDP numbers? Can a farmer ruined by high input costs in Maharashtra feed his family with social media frenzy?

Beyond income, India’s social and human development indicators reveal a crisis. The country ranks 134th on the Human Development Index, way behind developing economies like Sri Lanka and Vietnam. It ranks 111th out of 125 on the Global Hunger Index. Thirty-five percent of Indian children are stunted. Over 230 million people still live in multidimensional poverty. Female labour participation is among the lowest in the world. India ranks 127 out of 146 in the Global Gender Gap Index. On almost every index that actually touches the lives of real people—education, nutrition, health, food, housing equality—India performs dismally. Is this the real face of the “world’s fourth-largest economy”?

To make matters worse, the very basis on which these rankings are celebrated is questionable. The $3.9 trillion figure is calculated based on nominal GDP in current US dollar terms, heavily dependent on exchange rates. The Indian rupee is now hovering around ₹83 to the dollar—an unprecedented low. What happens when the rupee weakens further? If the value of the dollar rises to ₹90, the size of India's economy in dollar terms shrinks. It’s that simple. Is this economic strength or statistical sleight of hand? The same Prime Minister who once called the rupee’s value a matter of national honour is today silent as it slips year after year. The GDP number used to construct the illusion of ascent is fragile, reversible, and unrepresentative. India’s economy hasn't become richer—its currency has become cheaper.

But this deceit serves a purpose. It masks the government’s failures. It gives the BJP a headline. It offers the illusion of victory in the absence of substance. It is no coincidence that the GDP celebration comes at a time when the rural economy is in shambles, joblessness is rampant, and inflation continues to hit the poor hardest.

The truth is that this is not inclusive growth. It is concentrated accumulation. Aided by policy, protected by propaganda, and polished by media spectacle. The majority of Indians remain on the margins of this story. Farmers die by suicide. Workers walk home barefoot during pandemics. Children drop out of school. Women vanish from the workforce. And yet, a select few watch their wealth double every few years. This is not a developmental model. It is a system of organised neglect and deliberate exclusion.

If India truly wants to be a great nation—not just a large one—it must change course. The goal should not be to impress credit agencies or compete in global rankings, but to ensure that no child sleeps hungry, that every young person has a job, and that no Indian has to choose between medicine and food.

True patriotism lies in demanding answers, not in blind applause. True nationalism lies in feeding the hungry, not in feeding them numbers. True growth lies not in GDP charts but in lives lived with dignity. Until then, this economy remains what it truly is: hollow at the core, glittering only at the top, and dangerously disconnected from the millions it claims to represent.

To conclude, PM Modi’s much trumpeted Viksit Bharat @ 2047 should be examined in light of what it means for the poorest sections of our society. India's so-called economic ascent must be seen for what it is—headline for a few and a hardships for the majority. Growth that widens inequality, deepens ecological destruction, and disregards the majority cannot be celebrated. A nation where crores depend on food rations while a handful hoard obscene wealth is not rising, it is rupturing. India urgently needs to abandon this lopsided model and chart a new path—one that is equitable, ecologically sustainable, employment-generating, and rooted in justice, dignity, and democratic planning. The time for real development, not its illusion, is now. 

Communist Party of India

Central Office 

New Delhi

Tele: 011 23235546

e-mail: cpiofindia@gmail.com