India’s Economic Truth: What Really Lies Behind the Trillion-Dollar Dream
India is obsessed with growth numbers.
Every year, as the Finance Minister stands at the podium and delivers the budget, millions watch as if it’s a national festival.
Markets rise and fall, television anchors declare economic victories, and social media lights up with memes and graphs.
But very few people know what really happens behind those numbers — in the smoke-filled rooms where policies are drafted, where political motives shape economic choices, and where one bureaucratic note can shift the destiny of a billion people.
That’s exactly what I wanted to uncover in the finale of Truth Shots with Kapil Gupta.
And there was no better person to do it with than Subhash Chandra Garg — former Finance Secretary, India’s Executive Director at the World Bank, and a man who spent 36 years in the IAS.
The System We Inherited – and Still Live Within
When I asked Garg how the system was designed to work, his answer was brutally honest:
“When the system was created, it wasn’t perfect — it was evolving.”
The Indian Constitution gave us the foundation of governance, but not a flawless one. Over decades, that foundation has been layered with politics, bureaucracy, and personal agendas.
And while the system was meant to serve the people, it slowly began serving itself.
Garg joined the civil services after the system was already 45 years old — but what he witnessed in his career was its constant reshaping. “It’s not a straightjacket,” he said, “it’s completely changeable.”
In other words, the system is alive — and like all living things, it adapts, biases, and ages.
That’s the uncomfortable truth we don’t discuss enough: India’s governance structure isn’t broken; it’s human. And anything human is bound to be flawed.
This perspective forms a crucial part of Indian political thought – the understanding that governance in India isn’t mechanical; it’s deeply human and constantly evolving.
The Cost of Integrity
Every bureaucrat faces a moment of truth — the day they must choose between integrity and obedience.
For Garg, that moment came early.
As he recalled, when Balram Jakhar, then Minister of Agriculture, wanted a plant built in a certain location in Rajasthan, Garg did what every professional should do: he checked the numbers.
The data didn’t justify the decision.
He refused.
The result? He was removed from a foreign delegation.
That’s the cost of saying “no” in a system where power often trumps process.
He told me, “I thought I was doing public service and stuck to my point.”
That single sentence sums up the tragedy of governance — integrity often comes at the expense of opportunity.
And yet, as Garg’s story shows, the only way to serve the public is to serve the truth, not the powerful.
This moral dilemma lies at the heart of Indian political thought — where ethical governance often collides with systemic obedience.
When India Was the World’s 6th Largest Economy
Here’s a fact that shocked many viewers — in 1945, when the World Bank was created, India was the sixth largest economy.
We had our own seat as one of the six original Executive Directors on the World Bank’s board.
But somewhere along the line, we slipped.
Our economy stagnated, our policies got politicized, and our place on the global stage shrank.
Today, we talk about becoming a $10 trillion economy — but how did a country that was once among the world’s top six lose its seat at the table?
Garg explained that India’s decline wasn’t sudden — it was slow, institutional, and internal.
We kept negotiating our identity between being socialist and capitalist, protective and global, reformist and populist.
And in doing so, we forgot that economic strength isn’t declared in speeches — it’s built in systems.
The question of how India manages this identity crisis continues to shape Indian political thought and our economic destiny.
The Politics of Subsidies and the Myth of Free Money
At one point in our conversation, we spoke about India’s obsession with subsidies.
If you reduce subsidies, the rich complain.
If you increase them, the poor become dependent.
As I said in the episode — if you keep driving down subsidies, you’ll have large entities crying foul; but if you push them up, inefficiency becomes institutionalized.
Garg agreed. The real challenge is balance.
Policy isn’t about giving or taking — it’s about sustaining.
But balance is a rare commodity in a political economy that thrives on extremes.
Even welfare, he said, becomes a double-edged sword.
“Give free food grains or give cash — misuse can happen either way.”
He told me stories of people selling subsidized rations at higher rates, of money leaking through loopholes, and of how every welfare scheme risks becoming a political tool instead of a social safety net.
The bigger issue, however, isn’t the misuse — it’s the mindset.
We’ve conditioned generations to see government as the ultimate provider, not the ultimate enabler.
