“Even when inflation is at 5.1%, meals inflation is at 30%. For somebody spending 50% of their revenue on meals, that 30% meals inflation is hitting them considerably tougher regardless of authorities programmes like PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana offering some aid,” Basu stated at a Delhi Faculty of Economics occasion to mark its 75 years of existence.
Basu, who served because the chief financial advisor to the central authorities below the United Progressive Alliance regime, additionally underscored the significance of the following 10-15 years for decrease middle-income class nations equivalent to India to unleash the demand for labour.
“If the coverage is finished proper – and it’ll require revisiting India’s labour legal guidelines – India can unleash the demand for labour,” he stated.
AI-driven developments, whereas promising, pose important challenges to conventional labour markets, he stated. “If we do not act intelligently, AI and digital advances will drive out lots of conventional labour,” Basu stated. He cautioned that schooling alone will not resolve points equivalent to poverty and unemployment, particularly as technological developments like AI start to encroach on conventional jobs.
