Amit Goel, Co-Founder and Chief Global Strategist at Pace 360 says, "The Indian economy and markets are doing extremely well. We are minting one billionaire every five days. This is a record not just for a country but globally. There have not been too many cases where a country mints a billionaire every five days."
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00:00To the extent that we are minting one billionaire every five days.
00:06This is some sort of a record not just for us as a country, but also globally.
00:12There haven't been too many cases where a country has minted one billionaire every five
00:18days.
00:19So, that's a great achievement and a great positive.
00:23And also, at the same time, we all know that Moody's has now upgraded India's growth rate
00:30for the current fiscal to 7.2% from their previous target of 6.8%.
00:39This is also great news because obviously we are, even with 6.8%, we are the fastest
00:46growing large economy of the world, but more is always better in this case.
00:51So 7.2% growth rate is definitely commendable in an environment where the global growth
00:58is only coming down this year and it's going to come down more next year.
01:04And in a situation where economies like China and parts of Western Europe are not doing
01:11well at all, India is like the best house in a pretty ordinary neighborhood.
01:17So all these are extremely good factors.
01:21If I talk about the billionaires aspect, this is a great source of inspiration for all those
01:28budding entrepreneurs out there who are rising from the middle class and who have the aspirations
01:35and dreams to become a great wealth creator in the long term, whether they become millionaires
01:42or they become worth $100 million, that is somewhat besides the point, but the fact is
01:48this is a great source of inspiration for all budding entrepreneurs of this country.
01:53Another good aspect of this number is that there is now democratization in terms of ultra
02:00wealthy in the country.
02:01So ultra wealthy, if you take the definition of 1000 crore plus as ultra wealthy, the good
02:08news is that now these ultra wealthy come from 97 cities in the country.
02:14Till a few years back, this number used to be only about 10 to 15.
02:20So the fact that these ultra wealthy are coming up from so many cities and towns of this country,
02:28this is again great democratization of the wealth and this is again a source of inspiration
02:35for everybody in the country, whether they come from large cities or smaller towns.
02:43So this is a very, very positive aspect, but I have two cautionary messages here.
02:51A, the disparity of wealth in the country is now growing at an alarming rate and our
03:00disparity of wealth between the most wealthy and the most poor is now not only at an all-time
03:06high for India, it is also one of the highest in the whole world.
03:11So that is a situation which we need to ponder about because this is not great for the social
03:16fabric and for a feeling of financial inclusion for everybody in the country.
03:23That is one.
03:25Secondly, what I would say is that as far as the economic growth is concerned, it's
03:31great that we are growing at 7.2% and obviously there are a few tailwinds.
03:37So the tailwinds include a good monsoon, for example.
03:41We believe that the rural spending is going to do better.
03:45The private sector, CapEx at the moment is doing extremely well and that is also boasted
03:49by the fact that so much money is being raised from equity as an asset class to IPOs, through
03:57QIPs, through private equity fundraisers.
04:02So that is also adding to the CapEx boom in the country.
04:06That is also good news, but to make this growth sustainable, we need to ponder about
04:13two things.
04:14A, the unemployment picture in the country is not looking great, whether it is the urban
04:19parts of the country or the rural parts.
04:22So we need to now think about how to increase employment in the country because that will
04:28be great, not just for economic growth, but also for improving the social fabric of this
04:33country.
04:35Secondly, there are a few threats also on the horizon and those threats are that the
04:42Indian banking sector is not doing too great, their net interest margins are going down,
04:47the credit growth is also coming down and there is pressure from the LPAs rising again.
04:56So this is very, very important because in the long term, the economy cannot do well
05:01and the banking sector is not doing too well.
05:04And plus, of course, there is a concern about a global economic slowdown becoming more entrenched
05:11with the US possibly going into a recession sometime in the next one year.
05:17So these are some threats, there are some challenges, but overall, I would say this
05:24is great news.
05:26All of us need to congratulate ourselves and we need to celebrate these achievements for
05:32our country.