In May 2025, when the CEO of NITI Aayog proudly declared that India had overtaken Japan to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, social media buzzed with celebration. The official claim placed India’s nominal GDP at over $4 trillion, signalling a new milestone in global rankings. But beneath this macroeconomic cheer lies a bleaker reality – while the economy may have filled the coffers of billionaires, it has left the bellies of the poor empty.
This article examines the paradox of growth without equity. While the number of Indian billionaires has risen to over 200 and the tally of millionaires has surged past a million, the population living below the poverty line remains distressingly vast. The rich have grown richer; the poor, hungrier.
India’s economic journey over the last decade, from 11th in global GDP rankings in 2014 to 4th in 2025, has been numerically impressive. But this ascent masks a concerning contradiction. A nation cannot be truly considered ‘developed’ if a significant share of its population continues to live in slums, struggle for basic healthcare, and sleep hungry – a reality reflected in India’s rank of 105th out of 127 countries in the 2024 Global Hunger Index – while a huge population of the middle class struggles to meet even modest needs.
In terms of per capita income, India still ranks below 130th globally. The 2024 figure stands at $2,800 per year – a fraction of Japan’s (~$33,000), Germany’s (~$48,000), and the USA’s (~$85,000)1.
“India is a rich country with poor people,” once said former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan – a phrase that rings louder than ever.
According to Forbes, as of 2025, India is home to 284 billionaires, ranking third globally after the United States and China2. The country’s wealthiest individuals have seen their fortunes soar during the post-COVID recovery, especially in IT, energy, and pharmaceutical sectors.
At the same time, the top 1% of Indians control over 40% of the country’s total wealth, while the bottom 50% own just 3%3. The gap between Antilia and Dharavi – to use the symbols of Mumbai’s affluence and deprivation – has never been starker.
Despite government claims of poverty reduction, the reality is sobering. According to the World Bank, as of 2024, 129 million Indians still live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $2.15/day4.
Furthermore, if a more realistic poverty line of $6.85/day is applied – suitable for middle-income countries – a significantly larger portion of India’s population falls into poverty5. This includes urban slum dwellers, underpaid rural workers, and informal labourers whose earnings do not ensure basic human dignity.
Economists like Jean Drèze and ReetikaKhera have highlighted that despite India’s impressive GDP growth, significant portions of the population remain undernourished and overlooked in policy planning.
India ranked 105 out of 127 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2024, a position worse than Bangladesh and Nepal. Malnourishment continues to affect over 35% of children under five, with anaemia and stunting rampant in rural areas6.
Government food schemes, like the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, once credited with averting famine during the pandemic, have seen reduced allocations and inconsistent delivery in the past year.
This situation raises a stark moral question: Can a country celebrate trillion-dollar milestones when millions go to sleep hungry?
The Indian urban landscape captures the contradictions most visibly. In cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, billion-dollar startups and luxury residences exist side-by-side with slums where people live in cramped tenements, often lacking toilets or running water.
According to government data, more than 65 million Indians live in slums6, with urban poverty showing signs of deepening, especially among migrants and gig economy workers.
India’s growth is increasingly described as “jobless.” While GDP has soared, employment growth has stagnated: Urban unemployment hovers around 7.6%, youth unemployment exceeds 23% in several states, and female labour force participation remains below 20%7.
Even flagship schemes like MNREGA face funding cuts, despite soaring demand for rural employment. This undercuts the very idea of inclusive development.
The current situation is a result of growth policies that prioritise capital over labour, exports over equity, and markets over the masses. Economists like Thomas Piketty and Lucas Chancel have argued that India’s inequality today rivals pre-independence colonial levels8.
Policy priorities have often skewed toward: Big-ticket infrastructure, ignoring rural healthcare and education; tax sops for corporations, instead of subsidies for farmers; privatisation of essential services, limiting access for the poor.
Instead of wealth trickling down, it has been sucked upward – concentrating in cities, tech sectors, and among financial elites.
India’s 4th position in global GDP is based on nominal dollar terms, but this metric often misrepresents true development. Smaller countries like Ireland, Finland, and Denmark rank far higher in Human Development Index (HDI), education, health, and gender equality.
India’s own HDI ranking was 132nd in 2023, and its Gini coefficient continues to climb – indicating rising inequality9.
The “4th largest economy” narrative is politically useful – feeding a nationalist narrative of progress. But slogans and statistical triumphs cannot substitute for nutrition, dignity, or opportunity.
In a climate where bulldozers demolish slums, but banks give bailouts to billionaires, public perception is rightly cynical. Many wonder: For whom is this economy really growing?
Economic growth should not merely be about beating Japan or overtaking Germany. It should be about whether every Indian child gets to eat, whether every elderly woman receives medicine, and whether every labourer is paid fairly.
India’s place in the global economy will mean little if it becomes a land of skyscrapers casting shadows on starvation.
The rise to becoming the world’s 4th largest economy should have been a celebration of inclusion, dignity, and opportunity for all. Instead, it risks becoming a numbers game, where a few trillion dollars mask the starvation of millions.
In a just economy: No child sleeps hungry. No mother dies giving birth due to a lack of care. No labourer goes unpaid.
Let’s not measure our worth by the global GDP ladder, but by the lives we uplift.
The economy may have filled the coffers of millionaires, but the belly of the Indian below the poverty line is shrinking. India must ask: Is it enough to be 4th on paper, or do we aim to be first in human dignity?
References
1.World Bank: India GDP per capita (2024) – https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=IN
- Wikipedia: List of Indians by Net Worth (2025) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indians_by_net_worth
- Oxfam India Report 2024 – https://www.oxfamindia.org/press-release/survival-of-the-richest-report
- Business Standard: 129 million Indians live in extreme poverty in 2024 – https://www.business-standard.com/economy/news/129-million-indians-live-in-extreme-poverty-in-2024-says-world-bank-124101501137_1.html
- The Wire: World Bank’s Poverty Reduction Report Isn’t Credible – https://m.thewire.in/article/economy/world-bank-report-on-indias-incredible-poverty-reduction-isnt-credible
- Census of India – Slum Population Statistics – https://censusindia.gov.in/
- CMIE Unemployment Rate Tracker (2025) – https://unemploymentinindia.cmie.com/
- World Inequality Report – India – https://wir2022.wid.world/
- UNDP Human Development Report 2023 – India – https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data#/countries/IND