The Indian economy's growth numbers have been in sharp focus in recent months. especially regarding their credibility and how they are often at odds with other leading indicators of industrial activity. If one were to put aside the debate over the accuracy of GDP figures, the more critical issue would be the task of putting the Indian economy back on an accelerated growth path. Following its landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections 2019, the BJP-led government had set a target of a $5-trillion economy by 2025.
Given that the size of the economy is about $2.87 trillion (GDP in nominal terms in 2019-20), achieving the $5-trillion mark would imply an annual growth of a little over 12 per cent for the next five years. Is this really possible? In this video, Radhika Merwin, Associate Editor, BusinessLine , points out several reasons why this may be a distant dream.