Previous dispatches provided a chronology of the lead-up to India’s 1991 crisis (“India before 1991: tiger caged”), examined the reforms unleashed by that year’s events (“India since 1991: tiger uncaged”), and explored India's highly favorable demographics ("Demographics").

Since the liberalization of India's telecom sector around the turn of the millennium, the number of Indian phone subscriptions has multiplied more than forty-fold, to over 1.1 billion.  As a result of intense competition between multiple private companies – which today account for over 90% of the market – Indian consumers now have access to the cheapest mobile phone plans in the world.

More to come on this topic in an upcoming dispatch.

India’s current average income is roughly comparable to that of 2005 China, 1990 Thailand, 1985 South Korea, or 1965 Japan.  In each of those countries, this level of per capita GDP marked an inflection point for the consumer economy – kicking off a decade or more of accelerated growth in spending on everything from branded dairy products to air travel.

More to come on this topic in an upcoming dispatch.

India's air passenger traffic has tripled over the past decade, driven by the rapid expansion of low-cost carriers such as IndiGo.  By the mid-2020s, India is expected to displace the UK as the world's third-largest aviation market.

More to come on this topic in an upcoming dispatch.

Between 2015 and 2050, India's working-age population is projected to expand by 33% (~285 million people) – in stark contrast to the grim demographic trends facing China and most developed economies, which will struggle to support ballooning numbers of retirees even as their labor forces shrink.

For more on this topic, check out the Demographics dispatch.

Since 1991, India’s per capita income has grown more than three times faster than in the decades that preceded liberalization.  Refuting the notion of a so-called “Hindu rate of growth”, increases in the country’s per capita income have surpassed global per capita GDP growth by a large and expanding margin, outpacing the rest of the world during booms as well as in the midst of global downturns.

For more on this topic, check out the India since 1991: tiger uncaged dispatch.