When on the 23^rd of August 2023, Chandrayaan 3 landed its rover on the south side of the moon, crores of Indians across the globe were all over the moon. The ISRO scientists and engineers were lauded and feted across the world. The success put India’s ‘rocket women’ in the spotlight- over 100 were closely associated with the lunar mission. Another surprising revelation was that only 2% of the ISRO space scientists had IIT affiliations.  Most of them were from Regional Engineering Colleges such as the COE Thiruvananthapuram.  Shri S Somnath had done his Mechanical Engineering degree from Kollam, Kerala. ISRO’s partners in this historic project were companies Hindustan Aeronautics, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Godrej Aerospace, Larsen & Toubro, MTAR Technologies… A satisfying ‘Make in India roll-call list’. However, what has stunned the international space community is that the Chandrayaan 3 mission cost only $75 million whereas the Russian Luna 25mission cost around $200 million. The Hollywood movie’ Interstellar’ had a production and marketing budget of $165 million. So ISRO is best placed to be the launch pad for global satellites outbidding rival agencies in the US & Europe. Satellite launches + satellite manufacturing services also.  India’s space economy which is valued at $8 billion is expected to grow to $40 billion by 2040. Forbes India has said that it may even catapult to $100 billion over the next 15 years. Since 1999 ISRO has put 381 foreign satellites in space for 34 countries and earned $279 million in revenue.

Covaxin, India’s indigenous Covid 19 vaccine was developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). Around 35 million doses of Covaxin were administered effectively (1.69 billion doses of CovidShield). A recently released film, ‘The Vaccine War’ celebrates the dedication of Dr Bhargava (Director ICMR & team) and Dr Priya Abraham (Director NIV & team). Again, a number of women virologists and bio-scientists made a significant contribution when it really mattered. That India supplied almost 24 crore doses of the vaccines to 101 countries, mainly through grants, is hardly a footnote.

Many Indians take pride in the ever-expanding list of Indian-origin global CEOs. Sundar Pichai (Alphabet/Google), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Leena Nair (Chanel)… Rishi Sunak (PM-UK) and Leo Varadkar (PM-Ireland) have given hope to some that a certain Vivek Ramaswamy may be the next occupant of the White House with the blessings of a certain Donald Trump. Shuddering thought!! Why indulge in these vicarious feelings when actually good things are happening in our country.  Like the expanding global footprints of Indian MNCs.  Bharat Forge is the world’s largest forging company with manufacturing facilities in India, Germany, and Sweden. Tata Steel, JSW Steel, SAIL & Arcelor Mittal are amongst the largest steel manufacturers in the world. Bajaj Auto (3rd largest 2wh- manufacturer) is the most valued 2wh company with a market cap of $13 billion. Asian Paints makes the top 10 peer list with a valuation of $2.18 billion. Sun Pharma has broken into the pharma companies’ elite top 25 club. Indian Pharma is also the world’s largest producer of low-cost generic drugs which is God Sent to developing nations. Airtel Africa (Bharti Airtel) is the first or second largest operator by customer market share in 13 out of the 14 African countries it operates in with its 4 G services. As of April 2023, India has claim to 167 billionaires, behind the US and China. This is in the context of the Indian economy being opened up only in 1991 by the Shri PV Narasimha Rao government with Dr. Manmohan Singh as the Finance Minister.  In the India Positive saga, it is also interesting to note that the Women’s Reservation Bill was first tabled in the Lok Sabha by the Shri Deve Gowda government in 1996. This much-needed legislation has finally become an Act just last month.

A lot of positive developmental work is happening on the ground. The media does not share any good news as everything is seen through a political lens. So hit the road in the next few months to find out that the Raipur-Vishakhapatnam 6-lane Greenfield highway has reduced the distance from 590 km to 464 km and the travel time from 14 hours to 7 hours. The Meerut to Prayagraj Ganga Expressway will also halve the travel time from 12 hours to 6 hours. The Bengaluru-Chennai 258 km expressway which will be open to traffic from Jan 2024 has reduced the stretch by 50 km and commute time by 30%. 4 lanes are expandable to 8. All part of the 202 NH projects worth Rs 80,000 crs are under implementation and crisscrossing the country, with a special focus on the North East.

The 1483 km Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor through Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat & Maharashtra will have industrial zones, logistic hubs, power plants, ports access, schools, and hospitals –creating new economic centers with large employment potential. The ambitious Narmada Valley project seeks to optimize water resource management and generation of power through a network of canals and small dams. Another objective is to raise the groundwater level tables in the adjoining areas. The Chenab Rail Bridge (1.3 km) is expected to open to rail traffic soon. It will connect the Kashmir Valley to the Rest of India- Baramullah- Srinagar-Udhampur. The new international airport terminal at Bengaluru (T2) is expected to take air passenger footfalls to 55 million in the near future (currently 32 million annually). With a T3 planned annual air passenger traffic can move to Heathrow levels. If critical projects are completed within timelines- the economic, social, and employment impact will be huge.

The Ayushman Bharat National Public Health Insurance Scheme already has around 24 crore card holders with the GOI aiming at 50 crore registered members from the low-income earners or ration card holders. The cashless health care benefits provided – Rs 5 lakhs per eligible family per year at empaneled hospitals and designated health care centers. Sure, there are problems of corruption, fraudulent claims, and excessive billing. But a welfare scheme at such a large level will have to face, confront, and resolve such issues.

India is a happening place as a medical tourism destination. Around 2 million patients from around 78 countries sought medical, wellness, and IVF treatments in India, and the numbers are growing. The current $6 billion revenue is expected to double by 2026 with a boost from the GOI ‘Heal in India’ initiative. Chennai hospitals are especially sought after for their high-quality treatments with more than 40% of the overseas health tourists’ traffic landing in the city.

The Indigenisation of Defence Production is another stellar chapter in the India Positive story. Indian defense exports have leapfrogged from Rs 1500 crs in 2016-17 to the current levels of Rs 16000 crs. To friendly countries in South East Asia & Africa with an intent of a long-lasting relationship for military hardware. Prithvi (surface-to-surface missile), Akash (surface-to-air), Trishul (naval version of Prithvi), Nag (anti-tank), Agni(anti-ballistic missile), and Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas) have received some coverage in the media. However, India’s specialisation in Weapon Simulators, Night vision- Monocular and binocular, Weapon locating radar, Coastal Surveillance Radar, Torpedo loading machines have invited a lot of interest from countries like the Philippines. Although 80% of the defense production is by Government establishments like HAL, DRDO and BEML private companies like Bharat Forge, Mahindra Aerospace, and MATR Technologies are stepping forward as trusted partners.

Mr Nandan Nilekani has often referred to India’s new model of growth with technology drivers whilst remaining anchored to inclusivity and the Greater Good values. This Digital Transformation is dramatically changing India from an informal, fragmented, cash-driven, and inefficient economy to a formal, organized and high-productivity economy. Mr Nilekani should know as the father of the Aadhar card issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Remember this happened in 2009 under Dr Manmohan Singh’s UPA 2 government. Although it took its time to take off, there are 1.3 billion Indians with digital ID’s today. The Aadhar was the ID layer. In late 2014 the Jan Dhan Yojana was announced and in a few years 400 million new bank accounts were opened and India went from being one of the most unbanked countries in the world to one of the most banked ones. The account holders have now crossed 50 crs and have the added facility of the Ru Pay debit card. In 2016 the scenario became turbo-charged with the launch of the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) payment scheme and the advent of smartphones. Block Building. The payment layer and the data layer became naturally integrated. KYC (Know your customer) with 10 million authentications per day (OTP, Iris, Face, Fingerprint) became the gateway for not only opening bank accounts or securing mobile connections but for pensions, mutual funds, and insurance. One may recall that with EKYC, Jio issued 100 million SIM cards in just 6 months. Being financially inclusive and connected meant that almost $5 billion of welfare funds were directly transferred to the accounts of 160 million beneficiaries who were in dire straits during the pandemic.

UPI has catalyzed and streamlined the economy in just 7 years.  300 million active monthly users, 500 million merchants who use UPI to accept money for their businesses, and 7.6 billion transactions a month. In September 2016 the RBI launched the Bharat QR code and by Dec 2022 the Bharat QR had 4.9 million users and UPI QR-238 million. Vegetable vendors, farmers, shopkeepers, merchants, and professionals are all embracing the QR code for receiving payments, delivery of services, seeking feedback on services…

The Digital Revolution has become a way of life. As the ex- Infosys Chairman succinctly puts it, “the change and momentum is irreversible.” The Digi Locker (GOI cloud) was rolled out in 2015. As per the latest data 134 million Indians securely store their documents on the cloud- Aadhar, PAN card, Driving License, CoWin certificate… Fast-Tag has released the traffic jams at highway toll booths and also plugged considerable leakage. 324 crs (number of) transactions were done vide Fast Tag in 2022-23. The Digital Tax system for Income Tax and Indirect Taxes has made matters more efficient and transparent. The competition between Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone has ensured that the cost of consumption of data on our smartphones is amongst the lowest in the world.

At the cutting edge is the AI for Bharat- a voice tool in 22 regional languages. A farmer can raise his query about the sowing season timing, the weather, or the markets and receive a quick response in his own language. Some of the information will be facilitated by GPT. Let’s talk about another game-changer ONDC (Open Network for Digital Communication- GOI-Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade). “An advanced ecosystem that enables smooth and interoperable online transactions; ONDC provides an open protocol that envelopes different aspects of e-commerce for a streamlined exchange of goods and services.” Small and medium businesses can directly engage with potential customers or clients without the demands of intermediaries; it can provide a collaborative channel between the logistics and the seller to make deliveries more timely and efficient; small businessmen or farmers in Tier 3 and rural areas can access the App in their own language. They no longer have to rely on big firms, agencies or markets to sell their products and services.

By 2030 India is expected to become the 3rd largest economy in the world, overtaking Japan. But per-capita income is what we should be tackling on a war footing. Our current ranking is a dismal 141 out of 197 nations. The economy has to grow at 6.5% to 7% CAGR every year for the next 20 years if we have to be accepted and acknowledged as an advanced economy. There is surely some progress to cheer about but it is a long haul ahead. It is incumbent upon whichever future government is in power to relentlessly focus on a vibrant economy and real & inclusive growth. Good Economics is the Best Politics. In 2047, the Indian tricolor should unfurl after 100 years of Independence to represent one of the leading global powers and celebrate being one of the most progressive nations on Earth.