Noida, Gurugram are acting like 'first world economies’: Raghuram Rajan

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan has opined that people living in north Indian cities like Noida and Gurugram are acting 'as if one were in a first world economy’.

Rajan, who was the 23rd governor of the RBI, held the coveted post from September 2013 to September 2016, said this in a podcast titled 'Raguram Rajan’s Economic Map & Warning for India’ on YouTuber Akash Banerjee’s channel 'The Deshpakt’.

’Parts of Indian Economy First World’

There, the former central bank governor was asked to share his insights on the country’s economic progress and challenges ahead.

In response, he pointed to economic activity in cities like Noida and Gurugram. “Some parts of the Indian economy are first world. People in Noida and Gurgaon are basically operating in a first world economy,” he said.

Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Gurugram (city) in Haryana The name was changed in 2016 (but still popular by its old name, i.e., Gurgaon) are satellite towns of Delhi, and along with it, some nearby places in the National Capital Region (NCR). Both cities are IT, industrial and financial hubs despite their relatively small population.

What is a 'First World Economy’?

Generally, these are countries with highly industrialized and advanced economies. Sometimes, these are also called 'developed’ or 'industrialized’ countries. Currently, India is the fifth largest economy in the world (behind USA, China, Japan and Germany respectively) and By 2030, it will rise to third placeFlowing Japan and Germany.

What else did Rajan talk about?

Meanwhile, on the podcast – you can watch it Here – Rajan also touched on Unified Payments Interface (UPI), November 2016 demonetisation, India’s journey towards a developed economy by 2047 and more.

„Major success. Success has many fathers. I want to claim some parental rights. It started when I was at RBI and now we are doing 10 billion transactions a month,” he told UPI.