Nikhil Gupta, the author of recently out book “The Eight Per Cent Solution” was at the International Centre Goa on Friday, February 23, 2024 as the keynote speaker for the Kitaab Books in Discussion series. Nikhil Gupta who’s with a leading brokerage has been a keen observer of the policies and factors which promote the growth of a country. As he puts it, an economy consists of four participants – households, corporate, government and external – and just three activities of consumption, savings/investment and external trade. However, what is shocking is the lack of attention to the finances of the household sector and unlisted corporate sector in India. Also there’s the gap between real and financial economy which needs to be bridged…in his talk Gupta opined that India needs to save more over the next two decades to grow to an 8 per cent economy. After the book presentation the author fielded questions, mostly from students of commerce and economics, who made up the audience. Gupta said that India has seen a significant drop in savings and “the government must encourage a spirit of savings …and also reduce its own debt by encouraging private sector to invest more in infrastructure projects.”

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ECONOMIST NIKHIL GUPTA AT ICG

Gupta firmly believes that a government must privatise sectors like defence, railways and road buildings to reduce its own debt. He added, “Savings are primary source for funding investments and investments in turn helps the gross domestic product (GDP) growth in any country. Plain consumption alone cannot help an economy to grow.” Interestingly, the much respected economist was critical about USA’s overtly debt oriented economy and said, “The USA is not a good role model for any emerging economy. Today they’re waiving off massive student loans. The cracks will appear very soon and in 4-5 years USA will face a big economic crisis.”