Modi’s Mind is Made | The Daily Peel | 12/20/22

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India Seeks to Out-China China

Not enough people are talking about the fact that India’s population will surpass China’s just about any day now.

And as a result of that, switcharoos in other aspects of social, and even more so economic, life will and are drastically changing. Let’s take a look at what’s going on.

India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has led the world’s largest democracy since 2014. There are effectively no term limits as long as the PM stays “in the pleasure of the President,” but don’t get it twisted, it’s the Prime Minister that runs the show.

Modi’s economic ideology keeps one thing in focus: growth, and a whole lot of it. Since taking power almost a decade ago (yes, 2014 was almost that long ago…I can’t believe it either), Modi has sought to institute liberalized changes and privatize their economy seemingly as much as possible.

Now, to simplify to an irresponsible level, their starting points were drastically different, but India is largely following a similar playbook as China in terms of global economics. And it’s working.

For one, albeit minute, example, just take this stat: In 2022, Western banks will earn more from dealmaking fees in India than in China for the first time ever. While that fact alone isn’t punch-yourself-in-the-face astonishing, it’s exactly the trend the nation wants to see to spur international investment.

To be fair, that has as much to do with zero C-19 and China’s broad decoupling from the global economic status quo.

But, as you’ll see in Data Peel below, India is giving China a run for its money (no pun intended) in terms of development financing. Still barely a fraction of China’s total developmental financing investments, Modi and the team plan to catch up quick, with these kinds of investments doubling since 2015.

From the capital of New Delhi, dozens of billions of dollars have been poured into infrastructure investments in neighboring nations. Right now, it’s kind of like when your little brother beats you in Smash or something—it’s not much, but it’s a sign of what’s to come.

The main drivers are basically twofold and, of course, involve the classic emotions of investment. Fear and greed.

India is shook at the idea of neighboring countries going full-on pro-China as a result of the massive Belt and Road Initiative while also seeking to upgrade the trade capabilities of those neighboring countries so India can sell them more sh*t. Fair deal, right?

We certainly hope so, at least. Literally, half the world’s population is nestled in South East Asia, so fingers crossed!

Source

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