India Has 7.4% Growth, But Where Are the Taxes?

India is once again the world’s fastest-growing major economy, despite facing punitive US tariffs for buying Russian oil. Yet, capital is fleeing, the currency is sagging, businesses aren’t investing, and tax revenue is faltering.

That last point has the most immediate significance. Tax collection figures are hard numbers, whereas gross domestic product is a statistical artifact. The ministry responsible for the calculations is predicting an acceleration in GDP growth — to 7.4%, from 6.5% previously. Yet in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, New Delhi’s net tax intake didn’t even hit the halfway mark of what it expects to collect by March 31.