When Growth Isn't Good

India’s just-released GDP figures show it’s still the world’s fastest-growing large economy. Over the past decade or so, those numbers have swooped and stuttered -- from the boom years of the mid-2000s, when easy money and roaring demand pushed growth up to nearly double digits, to the hard stop at the time of the 2008 financial crisis, to the dramatic, stimulus-driven recovery immediately after and finally the inexorable decline, every quarter, once the stimulus ran out of steam.

India now looks to be on an even keel. Its macroeconomic numbers are strong and growth appears solid, if slightly slower than hoped. India’s government -- led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself -- has reiterated this message over and over again. What officials won’t say is that the quality of India’s growth is very poor indeed. Look a little more closely, and the economy doesn’t seem anything like the good-news story the government has been telling the world.