The challenge for India's next government will be more than just stoking economic growth. It will have to create jobs, according to the country's former central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan.
It is growing reasonably strongly. Is it growing enough? That really is the question that India's politicians need to answer, he said in a Bloomberg Television interview Tuesday from Davos, Switzerland. Many many more good jobs need to be created and whatever administration comes after the election will have to make that its biggest priority.
India is among the fastest growing major economies in the world, with growth for the year ending March estimated at 7.2 per cent. While the pace is considered to be robust, economists say it is not enough to absorb the millions that enter the workforce annually.
The jobs-void risks tarnishing the country's image as an investment destination, stoking social unrest and posing a threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's re-election bid this year. Employment creation has been a top priority for Modi, who came to power in 2014 after promising to create 10 million jobs each year.