Economics & Indian Economy

Government's use of taxation and spending to influence the economy; Union Budget presented in February

GDP measures total economic output of a country; GNP adjusts for income from abroad

Inflation is the general rise in prices; RBI targets 4% inflation in India using monetary policy

RBI controls money supply and interest rates to manage inflation and growth in India

The fundamental force of markets — price rises when demand exceeds supply; falls when supply exceeds demand

G20 represents 85% of world GDP; India hosted G20 in 2023; BRICS now has 10 members

Bretton Woods institutions (1944) — IMF stabilises economies; World Bank funds development

Soviet-inspired planning from 1951–2017; replaced by NITI Aayog and Viksit Bharat @2047 vision

Goods and Services Tax replaced 17 taxes in 2017 — India's biggest tax reform since Independence

From Licence Raj to $3.7 trillion — India's 1991 reforms changed everything

Employs 44% of India's workforce; 16% of GDP; India is world's largest milk and pulse producer

India's central bank; regulates money, credit and banking; banker to the government since 1935

USA is India's largest trading partner; China the largest source of imports; Gulf the largest export region

WTO governs global trade; 164 members; India is a founding member; trade worth $30 trillion/year

India has 12 public sector banks, 22 private banks, 46 foreign banks and 1,500+ cooperative banks

BSE (1875) and NSE (1992) are India's stock exchanges; SEBI regulates markets since 1992

Wealth of Nations (1776) — founded modern economics; free market, division of labour, invisible hand

First Indian Nobel laureate in Economics (1998); known for welfare economics, poverty and inequality research