India's August export numbers are difficult to square with the "dead economy" narrative.

Total exports of goods + services rose 25.4% year-on-year, from $66.0 billion to $82.7 billion. Merchandise exports rose 26.1%, from $34.7 billion to $43.8 billion. In rupee terms, export growth was 37.6%.

More interestingly, engineering and electronics exports are showing strong growth, with electronics exports reportedly up sharply.

Of course, one month doesn't establish a trend, and exports alone don't tell us everything about employment, consumption or household incomes. But exports are ultimately actual transactions with foreign customers — Indian firms producing something competitive enough for someone abroad to pay for.

So perhaps the better question is not whether the economy "feels" good in a particular neighbourhood, but what exporters, manufacturers and workers in export-oriented industries are actually experiencing.

What do people here make of the numbers? Is this the beginning of a sustained export acceleration, or is August an unusually strong month?

IMF Director of Communications Julie Kozack says that India’s latest GDP figures used new industrial production and producer price indices that improve estimates. It welcomes the modernization of statistics and urges continued improvements in data quality.

The closing gap between rich and the poor. A decade back 10% of the total poor owned a car or two wheeler, now 50% do. This rapid amelioration of poverty is an unrecognised aspect of our daily life and deserves stronger pace and support. The growth debates can continue but the change on ground can’t be allowed to slacken.

Yesterday, on ABP News, I was introduced as an “economist” during a debate on fuel prices.

Over the years, TV shows and articles have called me many things: economics expert, trade expert, political expert, thinker, strategist, and occasionally things I myself didn’t fully understand. But “economist” was a first.

To be clear, I don’t have a formal degree in economics. I studied economics in school, took courses at IIT Madras, and later during my MBA at IIM Bangalore. But my real education came from curiosity. Economics has always been my first love. In many ways, it shaped how I think, work, and make decisions.

The funniest moment came later at home.

My daughter watched the show and asked very seriously:
“When did you become an economist?”

I had only one answer:
“Autodidact.”

Then I explained to her that some of the most important learning in life happens outside classrooms. You read, observe, argue, question, connect dots, and keep learning for years.

Honestly, I think everybody should learn economics. Not necessarily for exams or degrees, but to understand how the world actually works.

And if anyone wants to begin, there’s no better starting point than Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt.

One warning though: after reading it, you may never watch a debate the same way again.

https://youtu.be/4l2bfFjhS2U?si=6h1DG3Xc2Pz7ifcW