Shaktikanta Das, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, on Sunday, 4 October 2026, said that a broad sweep of economic reforms over the past decade has made India structurally resilient against successive global shocks that have weighed on the world economy. Speaking at the Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi, Das argued that these reforms were never conceived as isolated, one-off interventions, but as systemic buffers designed to help the economy absorb disruptions and recover rapidly.

Key Reforms Cited

Das highlighted four pillars that, in his assessment, have fundamentally strengthened India's economic architecture. These are the flexible inflation-targeting framework introduced in 2016, the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the rapid expansion of digital payments, and a comprehensive overhaul of the banking sector. He described the restoration of banking-sector health as a 'defining feature' of India's resilience, noting that the clean-up of balance sheets had freed credit channels for productive investment.

On fiscal policy, Das stated that sustained fiscal consolidation — pursued without sacrificing growth-supporting expenditure — had helped stabilise macroeconomic fundamentals. The GST, he added, created an integrated national market, eliminated cascading taxes, and accelerated the formalisation of the economy.

Growth Numbers and Global Context

India's real GDP grew 7.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2026-27, supported by strong domestic demand and investment, Das noted. He said the country was now within 'striking distance of 8 per cent growth', pointing to the above-8-per-cent expansion recorded across the four consecutive quarters from July–September 2025 to April–June 2026 as evidence of underlying momentum.

Das framed India's performance against a challenging global backdrop marked by geopolitical uncertainty, trade fragmentation, technology restrictions, energy-price volatility, and elevated public debt in advanced economies. He noted that the flexible inflation-targeting framework had enabled India to navigate the Covid pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and ongoing conflicts in West Asia without the macroeconomic dislocations seen elsewhere.

Infrastructure, Energy and Manufacturing

Das underscored large-scale public investment in transport and logistics — backed by initiatives including PM Gati Shakti, the National Logistics Policy, Sagarmala, and UDAN — as a driver that has reduced economic friction and laid the groundwork for investment-led growth. He also pointed to India's diversified energy base, spanning fossil fuels, renewables, biofuels, and nuclear energy, as a buffer against external energy shocks.

On manufacturing, Das said India was witnessing a 'manufacturing resurgence', supported by production-linked incentives (PLI), semiconductor investments, automation, and Industry 4.0 technologies. This comes amid a broader global effort to de-risk supply chains away from single-country dependence — a dynamic that has positioned India as an alternative manufacturing hub.

The Road Ahead

Looking forward, Das identified artificial intelligence, deeper financial markets, strategic self-reliance, sustainable development, and human capital as the five domains that could define the next phase of India's growth trajectory. He stressed that sustaining the reform momentum would be 'very critical', since India's objective was not simply rapid expansion but long-term, sustainable and resilient growth. The remarks signal that the reform agenda is far from complete and that institutional strengthening remains a live priority at the highest levels of economic policymaking.