When you think of India, what comes to mind, is it the "purest and purest" Ganges water, or the "multi-person acrobatic" bicycle?
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No matter which one it is, it's not a good word to praise "A third brother".
It is true that many of us have the impression that this country is synonymous with backwardness and ignorance, but on the Internet, we can often see the "confident" statements of Indian netizens.
There are even many foreign media saying that this country will become a second "China" in the future, is this really the case?
What is life really like in India? Let's take a look today.
Emerging economies of the world
Before you know it, India has become the world's fifth-largest economy.
This article was originally published in Reference News on May 7, 2024 on "Indian media: India's global rise and regional decline coexist".
According to authoritative data, India's GDP in 2023 will be $3,572.1 billion, with an annual growth rate of 6%-7%.
At this rate, it will officially become third in 2027, below China and the United States.
So what is causing India's economy to grow so fast? The service sector, which accounts for more than 50% of the total, is one of them.
In particular, the IT service industry is one of the most competitive industries in the international market in the country.
According to the IT Industry Association of India, in 2020 alone, the industry generated nearly $200 billion in revenue, and more than 4.5 million people worked in related industries.
So, why is there so many IT talents in India, which is very poor and backward?
As we all know, it was colonized by the British for a long time, so the official language of India has long since become English.
In addition, programming is generally based on English, so Indians have an innate linguistic advantage.
The second is that India has a large working population and low prices, especially for this kind of software outsourcing industry.
From the low-end business of data entry to the more high-end field of software development, Indian practitioners have extremely high cost performance.
Mumbai is a city with the IT industry as its main development industry, and its economic development level is second only to the capital New Delhi.
Apart from that, agriculture is also one of India's pillar industries.
When it comes to farming, India has a unique advantage due to its suitable climate.
In India, nearly half of the population is engaged in agriculture and agriculture-related activities.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), India is among the world's leading producers of food.
In particular, the output of rice and wheat has repeatedly ranked among the top three in the world.
With the impact of industrial transfer in recent years, India's manufacturing industry has also sprung up and played a more important role in the national economy.
There is no doubt that India has indeed become another economy in the world, so why do we still have the impression of India as poor and backward?
This brings us to another striking feature of the Indian economy.
The gap between rich and poor ranks second
The reason why the public has such a bad impression of India is mainly because we have long received information about the lives of the people at the bottom of India.
The large gap between the rich and the poor is one of the most prominent problems in India, and even in the latest statistics, India's wealth gap occupies the second place in the world.
In March this year, there was a news I don't know if any friends noticed, that is, the scene of the marriage of the youngest son of the richest man in India.
The richest man from India is called Mukesh Ambani, and he is also the richest man in Asia.
At his youngest son's wedding, it can only be described as "star-studded".
First of all, the popular American singer Rihanna was on site as a guest performer, and the appearance fee alone was 5 million pounds.
The second is that the richest people on the world's richest list have brought their wives and children to bless them, such as the Zuckerbergs, such as Bill Gates, and even Trump's daughter Ivanka.
The emerald jewelry worn by the wife of India's richest man has also been on the hot search, and it is said that this necklace alone is worth 430 million.
If the richest man is not universal, then we can go to the rich quarter of India.
Outside the high-end department stores in New Delhi, all kinds of luxury cars are parked every day, and the people who get out of the cars are all dressed in gold and silver, and are full of luxuries.
The streets here are also lined with high-rise buildings, which are no worse than the first-tier cities in developed countries, but the slums are not far away.
There was once a particularly famous movie called "Slumdog Millionaire", which was filmed in Mumbai, India.
Mumbai is home to India's largest slum, Dharavi, where small low-rise houses are nestled one after the other, filled with chaos and poverty.
But just across the wall is a wealthy area surrounded by villas and greenery, populated by people who work for India's largest corporations.
Most of these people are from the upper castes.
One might question, hasn't the caste system in India been abolished?
By no means "the next China"
Yes, the caste system in India has been passed down for thousands of years, but it was outlawed as early as the last century because it did not adapt to the development of modern society.
But don't underestimate the influence of traditional ideas on people, even if the illegitimacy of the system has been emphasized at the legal level.
But in everyday life, people give special treatment to the high castes no less.
Moreover, in the course of thousands of years, the high castes have mastered many resources of Indian society, such as money, connections, education, and so on.
And because of the difference in castes, it is also difficult to circulate between classes, which is one of the reasons for the large gap between the rich and the poor.
So, is it possible for India to become the "next China" as the Western media say? The answer is never!
The original article was published in the Global Times on May 6, 2024 on "British media said that "the next China cannot be India": India's rapid economic growth is challenging".
Although India has a large working population of about 1 billion young adults, less than one-tenth actually have formal jobs, and most of the rest work part-time jobs.
Job instability means that there is not much savings, and the absence of savings means that it is difficult to expand reproduction, thus cultivating large enterprises in India.
The second is that the Indian government has borrowed a lot of money over the years to develop infrastructure projects, and it has even reached half or more of its GDP.
Another point is that we all know that India's local business environment is extremely poor, and it is even nicknamed "foreign cemetery" in the world.
Because of this, it cannot attract foreign investment, and even if it has foreign capital temporarily, it will not be long before it will "run away" in a panic.
The reason why the Western media tout India so much is nothing more than to suppress China, and to pin their hopes that India can develop and suppress China in Asia.
In fact, it's nothing more than fanciful.
epilogue
It is undeniable that India has indeed made progress in recent years, but there are still many outstanding contradictions in its society that have not been resolved, which in turn affect the development of its overall economy.
Many Western media outlets have tried to portray India as China's "adversary" and try to substitute China's role in the world economy.
However, they miscalculated this.
China's progress has never relied solely on the so-called demographic dividend, but on the overall upper-level planning and the spirit of self-improvement and unity of the people.