India's Middle Class Now Main Driver of Economic Growth, Says Finance Minister Sitharaman
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated on Friday that India's expanding middle class has become the country's primary engine of economic growth, with consumption-led demand helping the nation maintain its status as the world's fastest-growing major economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at the Rencontres Économiques d'Aix-en-Provence, a major economic forum held at Aix-Marseille University in France, Sitharaman addressed the theme 'How to Promote the Rise of a New Middle Class?' She said the middle class is no longer just a beneficiary of economic growth but the principal driver of it.
"In India, the middle class is the engine of growth. After COVID, India remained the fastest-growing large economy primarily because of the consumption which is triggered from the middle class and turns around into a virtuous cycle generating economic activity," she said.
Sitharaman further projected that by 2036, 93% of all spending in India will be attributable to the middle class or slightly affluent consumers, underscoring the transformative role of this demographic segment in shaping the country's economic future.
