Raghuram Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and prominent economist, is under fire for statements he made on India’s growth, in which he noted substantial structural difficulties that must be addressed.
According to Rajan, India is making a huge mistake by embracing the ‘hype’ around its great economic development, and it would take several years of hard effort to make it a reality.
The economist believed that in order for a country like India to realise its full potential, it must first address its structural flaws. He emphasised systemic challenges such as low labour education and skills.
Rajan even encouraged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Union administration to prioritise resolving these outstanding concerns.
The former central bank governor voiced reservations about India being a sophisticated economy by 2047, saying it would be ‘crazy’ to talk about such a target in settings when “so many of your kids don’t have a high school education and drop-out rates remain high.”
Following his statements, some economists described them as ‘silly’ and unrelated to ground fact.
Comments
Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal Global Education, commented on X, “Silly arguments by RR (Raghuram Rajan), school dropout rates are down, college enrollment has increased, huge jobs have been created, Wrong comparison of chil subsidy given over many years to annual HE spend.”
Arvind Virmani, a macroeconomist and NITI Ayog member, also criticised Rajan’s ideas. He claimed that Rajan’s views were similar to those made by worldwide experts who had never visited India.
“During the 1990s BOP crisis, we used to have a nickname for visiting WB, IMF, and other MDB economists: “Parachute economists.” “It’s unfortunate that a former RBI Governor sounds like that to someone who has worked on the Indian economy for half a century,” Virmani wrote on X.
