Hindu rate of growth

On 6 December 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking at the 23rd Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, condemned efforts to link India’s historical economic slowdown with Hindu faith, calling the “Hindu rate of growth” term a deliberate attempt to malign the Hindu way of life.

• Origin of the Term: Coined by economist Raj Krishna in 1978, the phrase described India’s sluggish post-independence GDP growth of about 3.5-4% annually, primarily from the 1950s to 1980s, wrongly implying it stemmed from a cultural “Hindu” acceptance of fate or minimalism.

• Historical Growth Data: India’s average annual GDP growth stood at 3.4% between 1956 and 1975, aligning with this so-called Hindu rate. Growth accelerated to 5.8% from 1981 to 1991, a decade before the 1991 economic crisis and liberalization reforms.