Book Summary: "The Elephant Moves: India’s New Place in the World" - Amitabh Kant, Amit Kapoor

Brief about the Book:

Charting out a roadmap for India depends on a sound understanding of how India is unique and why it is shaped the way it is.

The Elephant Moves unfolds a captivating saga, tracing India's economic journey through the lens of competitiveness. From unravelling economic history ('origins unveiled") to navigating global dynamics ("sailing the tides"), the book explores the forces shaping nations.

It delves into the facets of many Indias, unveiling opportunities in heterogeneity. Envisioning India's path to a developed economy by 2047, the book addresses challenges such as job creation, policy implementation, and the imperative for shared prosperity that are met through guiding principles grounded in shared value, social progress, and prosperity.

Providing a dynamic vision for India's diverse future, the book urges readers to embrace a narrative where India, rooted in regional diversity, shapes its global destiny?

Book publication date: December 2023.

Brief about the Author:

Amitabh Kant:- is an Indian bureaucrat and was the second chief executive officer of NITI Aayog, a public policy think tank of the Government of India.

He is a retired member of the Indian Administrative Service, the central civil service of the Government of India.

Amit Kapoor, PhD, is the Honorary Chairman at the Institute for Competitiveness, India; a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University; President of the India Council on Competitiveness and Editor-in-Chief of Thinkers.

Amit is the author of bestsellers Riding the Tiger, which he has co-authored with Wilfried Aulber and The Age of Awakening: The Story of the Indian Economy Since Independence published by Penguin Random House.?

The Elephant Moves:- Book Review

Chapter 1: Of the Elephants and Tigers:

India is confronted with a significant challenge in generating productive jobs, despite having one of the largest potential workforces globally, with over 660 million people aged between eighteen and thirty-five. Alarming statistics reveal that the country's unemployment rate stands at around 7 per cent, a concerning figure given the sheer size of the workforce. Furthermore, the quality of jobs in India raises concerns, as most of the population is engaged in low-value-added and low-paying employment. The State of Inequality in India Report 2022 points out that an individual earning over &25,000 per month belongs to the top 10 per cent of earners in the country, emphasizing the dearth of well-compensated positions.

Female labour force participation remains strikingly low at just 23 per cent, significantly below the global average of 47.4 per cent, presenting a substantial hurdle to India's economic development due to cultural and societal constraints. The country's youth unemployment rate is notably high at 23.2 per cent, reflecting deficiencies in the education and training systems that fail to equip the youth with the necessary skills for the job market.

Chapter 2: Sailing Ahead: Keeping Abreast with the Global Winds:-

India's industrial sector has not grown at par with its services sector. While the manufacturing sector shrank to 15.3 per cent of overall GDP in 2021-22, the service sector contributed to over 50 per cent in the same financial year.

This trend indicates that the country has not realized the Kuznetsian structural transformation, which is denoted by the mobility of economic resources from agriculture to manufacturing and finally to services as an economy develops.

The economic phenomenon of deindustrialization can arise due to a lack of investment in manufacturing capabilities and a lack of competitive advantage in the sector.

Chapter 3: What Makes Nations Trick?:-

The aftermath is India becoming a net importer of manufacturing while the service sector growth in productivity outpaces its manufacturing counterpart.

Moreover, the agricultural sector, employing 43 per cent of the working population, exhibits disguised unemployment, leading to low productivity and wages due to limited non-agricultural opportunities in rural areas.

The service sector's significant growth has outpaced the industrial sector, indicating a lack of investment in manufacturing capabilities and a reduced potential for high-productivity, high-wage jobs in the formalized economy.

Chapter 4: Competitiveness Fundamentals:-

Significant disparities in the quality of jobs persist in India, characterized by the glaring contrast between highly-skilled, well-compensated jobs and low-skilled, low-paying positions.

Informal employment, accounting for over 80 per cent of India's workforce, results in poor working conditions, low wages and job insecurity.

Gender-based discrimination further compounds the issue, relegating women to low-paying, low-skilled jobs with limited access to formal employment opportunities. Women in India face significant cultural and social barriers to entering the labour force, including discrimination and lack of access to education and job training.

Chapter 5: The Many Indias:-

Regions have resurfaced as a critical place for the control of economic development and wealth creation. According to Michael Kitson et al. (2004), regions should be compared in terms of economic performance, since such a comparison may provide an explanation for why regions vary in financial success. Moreover, per-capita GDP is seen as the primary outcome of competitiveness factors as discussed by the findings of Gina Dimian and Aniela Danciu (2011). Insights from the study reveal that the productivity or efficiency with which inputs get translated into commodities and services determines competitiveness.

Chapter 6: India through a Bottom-Up Perspective:-

It may be examined in terms of revenue, employment and its drivers, ranging from traditional production variables to soft factors like human capital, research and development and information dissemination. Finally, it concludes that countries such as China, India, Brazil, the Czech Republic and Poland have profited from macroeconomic stability, investment in education and research and sound economic policies in the present economic climate.

Indian states are larger than most of the countries not just in terms of population but also in terms of GDP. India is home to some of the most populated states, such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, (often termed as provinces/counties) in the world. Previously, we have discussed differences between Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh in terms of the four aspects of the diamond model. To examine differences across regions in India, we take up the case of the two states once again. Home to more than 23.3 crore people, the size of the population of Uttar Pradesh is equivalent to the European Union’s three major countries, Germany, France and the United Kingdom combined.

Chapter 7: Rewiring the Institutions in India:-

policymaking is an efficient tool. India's economic growth has been the result of policy changes, such as liberalization in the '90s, to more business-friendly policies that fostered an environment for market forces to grow and meet the economic realities of the country. The opportunities thus created by these policies have been the drivers of change in the Indian economy.

Chapter 8: The Guiding Forces:-

Since 2014, policies have been aimed at unlocking the underlying competitiveness of the economy. To meet the jobs challenge, various incentivized schemes, such as Make in India and Skill India, have been launched in the country. For these schemes to translate into greater outcomes, there is scope to address institutional inefficiencies.

Chapter 9: The Road Ahead: India's Odyssey to Prosperity:-

Policy implementation is a complex process involving various actors, institutions and factors. Its impact often depends not simply on executing given policies uniformly across the country but on adapting them to the specific circumstances in each state, district or city. One of the major challenges of policy implementation in India is the resource constraints and lack of capacity at the state and local levels.

While policies are formulated at the national level, the actual implementation is carried out at the state and local levels.

However, many states and local governments lack the necessary resources to implement policies effectively. This results in poor implementation, which undermines the intended impact of policies.

Conclusion:-

Apt an opportunity to relook at India’s developmental trajectory, the challenges it faces, the steps required for continued growth and the functioning of democratic institutions. Some of the discussions we look at having are on education, nutrition, healthcare, reforms, urbanization, culture, states etc.?

Learning:-

Today the world is looking at us and we have come half the way to being a superpower,

We have equipped ourselves with all the arms, amenities and ammunition to shield ourselves from the wrath of other countries.

Today we can thump our chest and pronounce to the world that 'We are Coming'

With about densely young populated country, who can withstand any challenges that encounter them.

Amitabh Kant & Dr. Amit Kapoor

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