Amey Chitale

Robust GDP growth masks uneven consumption, capital-flow pressures and a widening debate over the methodology of India’s economic data. AI generated image India’s growth outlook is increasingly influenced by interconnected geopolitical and environmental risks. The recent Gulf conflict exposed the country’s dependence on imports, as disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea constrained global trade routes and energy supplies. While India managed to diversify energy sourcing, the shock...

Part 2: Three decades after the 1991 crisis, India’s record Forex reserves have transformed the country from a crisis-prone borrower into an economy with a formidable external shock absorber. AI generated image Three decades ago, India had so few dollars that it had to pledge gold to avert a balance-of-payments crisis. Today, it sits on a foreign-exchange war chest of more than US$700 billion. The journey from near-bankruptcy to external resilience is one of the quieter successes of India’s...

Part 1: The journey from US$1.2 billion in reserves to US$729.3 billion is one of India’s great economic transformations. Part I examines how the foundations were laid. India once had enough foreign exchange to pay for barely two weeks of essential imports. Today, it has enough to cover nearly 11 months of merchandise imports. The distance between those two numbers tells one of the most consequential economic stories of modern India. India’s foreign exchange reserves touched a historic high...