Apparently, India’s economy has developed a rather unusual habit, it keeps on dying, but continues to grow.
Rahul Gandhi had described the Indian economy as a “dead economy”. A rather dramatic diagnosis, but then, Rahul Gandhi is never known for nuance. The latest numbers show India’s real GDP grew by 7.8% in the first quarter of FY2026-27, comfortably beating the Reserve Bank of India’s 7% forecast and the 7.1% median estimate of economists polled by Reuters.
It makes one wonder what exactly qualifies as “dead” these days, and whether Rahul Gandhi’s words carry any weight at all.
Perhaps a dead economy grows faster than expected. Perhaps it expands manufacturing by 9.2%. Perhaps its services sector keeps growing at around 10%. Perhaps consumers continue spending, and private investment rises sharply. If that is what economic death looks like, economists around the world may need to reconsider their definitions.
And this was not exactly a quarter served on a silver platter. India had to navigate geopolitical tensions, the Iran conflict, oil price shocks, supply-chain disruptions, trade uncertainty and global economic turbulence. Yet the economy managed to expand at 7.8%. Reuters reported that private investment surged, while manufacturing and financial services also posted strong growth.
But perhaps the real problem is that the Indian economy failed to behave according to the political script written by Rahul Gandhi and Co.
If someone announces that the economy is dead, the ideal response from the economy would presumably be to collapse dramatically, preferably before the next press conference. Instead, India’s GDP apparently chose the rude option; it grew.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the 7.8% growth during the first quarter of the current financial year a “herculean feat”, pointing to India’s resilience despite global uncertainty, oil shocks and supply-chain problems.
Declaring the entire economy “dead” while the numbers continue to show strong expansion perhaps belongs more in the category of political rhetoric than economic analysis.
For now, the Indian economy appears to have committed a political mistake, it refused to die and help the Indian opposition. In fact, it grew at 7.8%.
Someone may want to inform Rahul Gandhi.
