Growth Is Good

In this episode of Growth is Good, Rahul Ahluwalia sits down with Rick Rossow, India Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), for a wide-ranging conversation on how Americans actually think about India, why reform and market access have to move together, and what it would take for India to become a $20 trillion economy.Rossow traces his own path — from an entrepreneurial family in Michigan, to a comparative-advantage lecture in college, to landing in Washington D.C. in 1998 just as India’s reform story was entering its next chapter — and uses that vantage point to lay out a framework: Americans carry one of three pictures of India in their heads, the $400 billion India of a generation ago, the $4 trillion India of today, or the $20 trillion India he believes is coming by mid-century. Most, he argues, are still stuck on the first one.The conversation moves through why India’s IT boom succeeded almost by accident — a telecom reform, a surplus of IIT graduates, and an unplanned assist from Y2K — why manufacturing never got the same lift, and the political economy that leaves Indian cities "the fuel tank, but not the engine".

Zooming out, Rossow and Ahluwalia talk candidly about US trade policy, too: where the underlying complaints have real merit, where the execution has gone wrong, and why India’s best response either way is to keep getting more competitive on its own terms.Growth is Good is a podcast by the Foundation for Economic Development exploring the ideas, people, and policies behind India’s growth story.

In this episode of Growth is Good, Rahul Ahluwalia sits down with Pravin Krishna, economist and Chung Ju Yung Distinguished Professor of International Economics and Business at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, for a wide-ranging conversation on trade, why no country should try to make everything, and why market access alone was never going to be enough. Krishna traces his own path from a childhood in License Raj-era Bombay — waiting a decade for a phone line, years for a scooter — to studying at Columbia in the 1990s, and uses that lens to unpack one of the more surprising facts in India's growth story: in 1991, India and China had virtually identical per capita income, and similarly open access to American and European markets. Three decades on, the two economies aren't in the same league. The conversation moves through what the 1991 reforms actually fixed, why Indian manufacturing never scaled the way policymakers hoped, and, zooming out, how trade politics in the US shows that this tension between open markets and domestic politics isn't unique to India.Growth is Good is a podcast by the Foundation for Economic Development exploring the ideas, people, and policies behind India's growth story.

In this episode of Growth is Good, Piyush Doshi sits down with Shashank Mani, Member of Parliament from Deoria and founder of Jagriti Yatra, to explore how economic growth can be built from India’s districts.They discuss why India’s next growth engines may lie beyond its largest cities, how local entrepreneurship can create jobs where people live, and what it would take to bring investment and labour-intensive manufacturing to districts such as Deoria.Drawing on his experience with Jagriti Yatra, Jagriti Udyam Kendra and Amrit Prayas, Shashank Mani explains his idea of “Middle of Diamond India”: an emerging middle of entrepreneurs and citizens who have enormous economic potential but limited institutional support. He shares examples of rural call centres, women-led enterprises and local businesses that are creating jobs in eastern Uttar Pradesh.The conversation also examines why district-level development requires government, society and the private sector to work together. Mani argues that ease of doing business must begin with a shift from control to trust, and explains how colonial-era administrative processes, excessive documentation and the absence of entrepreneurship-support institutions continue to constrain enterprise.Finally, they discuss Viksit Bharat, decentralisation, humanist economics and the “Banyan Revolution”: a movement to unlock human potential and build an entrepreneurial ecosystem across India’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 districts.Watch the full episode to understand how India’s districts can become engines of enterprise, employment and national growth.00:00 Introduction02:00 Why economic growth is personal for Shashank Mani03:38 Amrit Prayas: bringing growth into politics07:09 Jagriti Yatra and “Middle of Diamond India”11:00 Creating local jobs through entrepreneurship16:00 Bringing manufacturing to smaller districts18:54 Decentralisation and district-level development21:45 What should Viksit Bharat look like?26:29 Strengthening India’s emerging middle31:07 Deregulation, trust and ease of doing business37:15 Humanist economics and the Banyan Revolution#GrowthIsGood #EconomicGrowth #Entrepreneurship #Deregulation #ViksitBharat #India

In this episode of Growth is Good, Rahul Ahluwalia sits down with Dr Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, CEO of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, to unpack the relationship between science, technology, innovation and economic growth.They discuss why technology by itself does not create growth, how deep science becomes deep tech, and why research only matters for the economy when it turns into products, diffuses through society and raises productivity.The conversation also looks at India’s R&D challenge: why Indian industry has historically underinvested in research, why the industry-academia gap remains so wide, and what it will take for India to become a research and development powerhouse for the world.Dr Kalyanaraman explains how ANRF is trying to change India’s research ecosystem, including through greater ambition in academia, stronger industry partnerships, faster funding, and the ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation Fund.Watch the full episode to understand how India can move from research to deep tech, from deep tech to products, and from products to growth.00:00 Introduction04:17 How science and technology drive economic growth09:03 Why research does not automatically become innovation12:38 India’s R&D challenge16:27 Building industry-academia collaboration24:30 ANRF, deep tech and solving India’s problems for the world40:15 How should developing countries approach R&D?#GrowthIsGood #EconomicGrowth #Research #Innovation #DeepTech #India

What does it actually take for India to become a high-income economy?In this episode of Growth is Good, Rahul sits down with Prachi Mishra — one of India's most respected economists, with stints at the IMF, Goldman Sachs, and the RBI. She now leads the Isaac Center for Public Policy at Ashoka University. One of the most wide-ranging conversations on India's economic future we've had on the show.

In this episode of Growth is Good, Rahul sits down with Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran — India's Chief Economic Advisor — for a candid, wide-ranging conversation on what it will really take for India to grow.From the "missing middle" in India's manufacturing to why 30-year-old policy prescriptions are still relevant today, Dr. Nageswaran brings together decades of thinking — as a scholar, investor, author, and now India's top economic policymaker.About Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran:Dr. Nageswaran is India's Chief Economic Advisor and co-author of "Can India Grow?" He has taught at several leading institutions, and previously worked in investment management across the US, Switzerland, and Singapore.Growth is Good is a podcast by the Foundation for Economic Development exploring the ideas, people, and policies behind India's growth story.📌 Subscribe for more conversations with India's leading economic minds.🔔 Turn on notifications so you never miss an episode.

Ajay Shah is back! And this time, he's going granular.In this episode of Growth is Good, Rahul Ahluwalia and Ajay Shah break down why firms — not policies, not savings rates, not grand macroeconomic plans — are the true unit of economic growth. GDP is just the sum of value added by every firm in the country. Ajay lays out 4 pillars that determine whether a society produces great firms or squanders its people's energy, the 3 rooms of R&D in India, why shell companies aren't all hera pheri and why India's tax-to-GDP ratio is less alarming than we think.0:00- The world will keep throwing stuff at you teaser0:55- Welcome back: Ajay Shah's second appearancePart 1 — Why firms are the entire economy2:08- GDP is just the sum of all firm value added3:23- Value added explained: from ball bearings to engines4:39- Every productive unit — even one farmer — is a firm5:59- Think one firm at a time: micro foundations of macro6:28- Incentives: what conditions make firms emerge?Part 2 — Entrepreneurship & what firms are made of7:14- What does an entrepreneur actually need?7:59- The magic of entrepreneurship: energy, not capital8:45- Story: Dhirubhai Ambani, petrol pump to Reliance9:41- Narayan Murthy, Infosys, and the art of doubling11:28- Even standing still is incredibly hard11:57- The 6% profit reality: the math of running a firm13:13- Capitalism: dynamic and constantly contested14:05- Every transaction is a vote14:49- Firms are rated every single day — elections aren'tPart 3 — Productivity, GDP and how to grow both15:59- Productivity dispersion: not all firms are equal17:22- India's casual worker earns ₹1.2 lakh a year17:37- Two ways to grow GDP: reallocation and improvement20:40- New firms vs better firms: both are goodPart 4 — The history and boundaries of the firm21:06- Why did firms even emerge? A brief history21:42- Ships to India, the industrial revolution, and Coase25:16- Shell companies, legal engineering, and piece-rate production27:33- Are shell companies just hera-pheri?28:35- State legibility vs firm productivity: they're incompatiblePart 5 — The state, rules, and what goes wrong29:53- When states change rules mid-game30:43- Growth is discovery, not design32:17- India's tax-GDP ratio: time to be less hysterical33:47- The cost of trying to eliminate all type-2 error34:43- The SEBI insider trading absurdity36:32- Is insider trading actually a serious crime?36:54- Insider trading brings prices closer to the truth37:45- Prediction markets and the value of private informationPart 6 — The 4 pillars that build great firms38:29- What actually creates conditions for great firms?39:59- Leadership must commit to the madness of building lead-in42:36- Pillar 1: Safety from expropriation P147:04- Pillar 2: Globalization — the most powerful engine P247:39- Why competing abroad is the best meritocracy49:05- Why don't Indian firms invest in R&D?49:42- The 3 rooms of R&D in India52:49- India's two-wheeler global success — and its limits55:36- Rooms 1 and 2 don't need large R&D spend56:25- Pillar 3: Creative destruction and the IBC P31:00:18- Firm death is normal, healthy, and necessary1:01:09- Pillar 4: Finance as the brain of the economy P41:03:43- Summary: the 4 pillars — and what India must build1:04:46- ClosingAjay Shah is a researcher, former government advisor, and author of 'In Service of the Republic.' This is his second appearance on Growth is Good — back by popular demand.References & Recommended Reading: The short history of global living conditions and why it matters that we know it (Max Roser) https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-... Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough (Lant Pritchett)https://lantpritchett.org/wp-content/...The Case for Economic Growth as the Path to Better Human Wellbeing (Lant Pritchett) https://lantpritchett.org/wp-content/...

In this episode of Growth is Good, Rahul Ahluwalia speaks with Dr. Rakesh Mohan — former Deputy Governor of the RBI, former Executive Director at the IMF, and one of the key policy minds around India’s 1991 reforms. This is a grounded, insider account of how reforms actually happen — and why they are harder than we think.Watch till the end for Dr. Mohan’s reflections on how policy thinking in India evolved — and what the next generation must learn.

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In this episode of Growth is Good, Rahul Ahluwalia is joined by Anand Prasad, co-founder of Trilegal, for a wide-ranging conversation on India’s legal system, economic growth, and the incentives that quietly shape how business actually works.Anand traces his journey from becoming a lawyer just after liberalisation to building one of India’s most influential corporate law firms. From there, the conversation moves into deeper questions:• Why breach of contract has become a “resource” rather than a deterrent• How delays, litigation, and weak enforcement slow down deal-making• Why technology alone can’t fix government systems without changing incentives• The role of culture — from “milord” courtrooms to the chalta-hai mindset• How regulation, corruption, and premature imitation shape everyday business decisionsUsing examples ranging from power sector reform to the pakoda-thela economy, this episode explores why India’s economy continues to function despite systemic friction — and what real reform would actually require.A candid, experience-driven conversation on law, incentives, culture, and growth.