Vice-President C.P. Radhakrishnan on Saturday, 3 October 2026, said that India's long-term economic resilience will ultimately depend on whether the benefits of growth reach every citizen and every region — not merely whether headline GDP numbers impress. Speaking at the 5th Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi, he argued that prosperity measured only at the national aggregate level risks leaving the most vulnerable behind.

Inclusive Growth as the True Measure

'The true measure of resilience is our ability to ensure that no citizen, no region is left behind. GDP alone cannot be the measure of development,' Radhakrishnan said in his inaugural address. He positioned inclusion not as a welfare add-on but as a structural precondition for durable economic strength, stating that 'inclusion can become an instrument of resilience.'

He cautioned policymakers against viewing resilience solely through the lens of financial markets or large infrastructure projects. Social inclusion, he argued, directly enhances an economy's ability to absorb and withstand external shocks — making it a macroeconomic, not merely a moral, imperative.

Women's Empowerment at the Centre of the Agenda

Radhakrishnan placed women's participation prominently within this inclusive vision. He argued that expanding access to education and economic opportunities would enable women to increasingly take on leadership roles across sectors. 'We want to empower the woman, give them the right to education and they will empower themselves,' he said. This framing positions gender equity as both a social and an economic growth lever.

JAM Architecture and Poverty Reduction

The Vice-President cited the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) architecture as a concrete illustration of how social inclusion can reinforce economic resilience. The JAM stack, he noted, enabled broader financial inclusion and more efficient direct benefit transfers — reducing leakage while expanding the base of formal financial participation.

He also stated that more than 25 crore Indians had moved out of poverty over the past decade, and described the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as India's most significant tax reform to date. The Vice-President acknowledged that India is actively transitioning from a developing economy toward its stated ambition of becoming a fully developed economy, underscoring that policymakers must track inclusivity metrics alongside headline growth figures.

GDP Growth Context

India's real GDP grew by 7.8% in Q1 FY 2026-27, up from 6.9% in Q1 FY 2025-26, according to available data. In absolute terms, real GDP at constant prices stood at ₹81.36 lakh crore in Q1 FY 2026-27, compared with ₹75.46 lakh crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year — an expansion that Radhakrishnan framed as an opportunity to deepen, not defer, the inclusivity agenda.

What Comes Next

The Kautilya Economic Conclave serves as a high-profile platform for shaping policy discourse, and remarks made in inaugural addresses often set the tone for working-group deliberations that follow. With India's growth rate accelerating and the Viksit Bharat vision gaining momentum, pressure is likely to mount on both central and state governments to demonstrate that economic gains are translating into measurable improvements in quality of life for marginalised communities. How that accountability is designed — and whether it extends beyond headline poverty statistics — will be the critical question in the months ahead.