A Snake Charmer Charming the Indian Economy – Spain’s National Daily Sparks Outrage; Indian Economy in 2022, not 1922!

naveenika October 18, 2022

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A Snake Charmer Charming the Indian Economy – Spain’s National Daily Sparks Outrage; Indian Economy in 2022, not 1922!

Talking about perceptions in a day and age when information is readily available, a Spanish newspaper has created an uproar in India Inc and citizens alike with its depiction of a snake charmer to denote India’s economy.

La Vanguardia perhaps has its reporters living under a stone who still think that India is the land of snake charmers and that people travel in horse carts or on elephants.

The article “The hour of the Indian Economy” used the illustration of a snake charmer playing his instrument to make the graph of Indian economic growth go up. The report went viral as many took to Twitter, and thus ensued a debate regarding the ‘objectionable’ illustration.

Spain recession deepens as economy shrinks, austerity weighs-Business News , Firstpost

Which World is Spain Living In?
While there is much debate on the illustration depicting the upward trend in the Indian economy, it is surprising to note that there is still a “colonial hangover” that the Spanish newspaper thinks India to be under. Perhaps the tourists from Spain have reported back home that India runs on “horsepower” and we use “firewood” to cook our daily meals.

While this may be the case in remote villages and for a few households, probably because of specific reasons but by large, indeed not the case for the majority.

Spain V/s India
The economic growth trajectory of Spain and India is at its most comprehensive – let us compare some facts and figures.

In terms of GDP – Spain is currently the 15th largest economy in the world, with a GDP of around $2 trillion. In contrast, the Indian economic GDP is approximately $3.5 trillion, and India is the 5th largest economy in the world.

Gross Domestic Product & Income

Stat	India	Spain
GDP	$2.7T	$1.4T
GDP growth, 1 year	7.1%	2.5%
GDP growth, 5-years average	7.6%	2.7%
Population	1.3B	46.7M
GDP per capita	$2k	$30k
GDP per capita growth	5.71%	2.07%
Purchasing Power Parity conversion factor	18.1	0.65
Price level ratio of PPP conversion factor GDP to market exchange rate	0.26	0.76
GDP per capita, PPP adjusted	$7.9k	$40k
GNI, Atlas method	$2.7T	$1.4T
GNI per capita	$2k	$29k
GNI, PPP adjusted	$10.4T	$1.9T
GNI per capita, PPP adjusted	$7.7k	$40k

The above table clearly shows the statistics between India and Spain
For the World Economic Outlook, as per the latest International Monetary Fund, IMF report India will overtake Germany‘s economy in 2025- 26 to go on to become the world’s 4th largest economy, and by 2027-28, India will achieve the $5 trillion mark to overtaking Japan to become the 3rd largest.

While the entire world’s economic growth has slowed considerably compared to the rest of the world, IMF has projected India’s growth forecast for 2022 – at 6.8% compared to countries in Europe like Germany and Italy that are looking towards recession.
Financial system and Human Development

Italy, Spain Economies Set to Expand at Fastest Rate Since 1970s - Bloomberg

Financial system and Human Development

Stat	India	Spain
Income Tax Rate	30.9%	45%
Corporate Tax Rate	32.4%	25%
Inflation, consumer prices	3.5%	1.7%
Inflation, GDP deflator	4.1%	1.1%
Unemployment	2.6%	15.5%
Economic Freedom Index	56.5	66.9
Personal Freedom Index	6.96	8.95
Human Freedom Index	6.8	8.22
Property Rights Index	63	74.9
Judical Effectiveness Index	64.1	51.8
Business Freedom Index	65.6	66.8
Fiscal Health Index	13.1	62.6
Labor Freedom Index	41.2	57.7
Investment Freedom Index	40	85
Financial Freedom Index	40	70
Trade Freedom Index	73.4	86.4
Monetary Freedom Index	73	82
Government Spending Index	77.9	48.3
Tax Burden Index	79.4	62.1
Government Integrity Index	47.2	55.1
Corruption Perceptions Index	41	58
Life expectancy at birth, years	69.2	83.3
Suicide mortality rate, per 100,000 people	16.3	8.7
Mortality caused by road traffic injury, per 100,000 people	22.6	4.1
Intentional homicides, per 100,000 people	3.2	0.7
International tourism, number of arrivals	17.4M	82.8M

In terms of the Financial System and Human Development – the Income Tax rate in India is much lower. While we are struggling with inflation, our unemployment rates score much better as compared to that of Spain.

Government debt & reserves

Stat	India	Spain
Central government debt, % of GDP	69.8%	97%
External debt stocks, % of GNI	19.3%	N/A
External debt stocks	$521.4B	N/A
Short-term debt, % of total reserves	26.1%	N/A
Total debt service, % of exports and primary income	11.4%	N/A
Adjusted net savings including particulate emission damage, % of GNI	16.3%	9.1%
Gross savings, % of GDP	30.9%	22.3%
Gross capital formation, % of GDP	31.3%	20.4%
Total reserves including gold	$399.2B	$70.6B
Foreign direct investment net inflows	$42.1B	$49.1B

When it comes to Debt and Reserves, again, our debt in % is much lower as compared to Spain. India also has a higher Gross saving (GDP) than Spain, and our total reserves are substantially higher than that of Spains.

Madrid (Spain) | AZCA financial district | Jose A. | Flickr

Exports, imports and economic structure

Stat	India	Spain
Exports of goods and services, % of GDP	19.7%	35.1%
Imports of goods and services, % of GDP	23.6%	32.4%
Current account balance (balance of payments)	-$65.6B	$27.3B
Revenue excluding grants, % of GDP	12.9%	15.7%
Grants excluding technical cooperation, BoP	$689.4M	N/A
Personal remittances received	$78.8B	$3.4B
Industry including construction value added, % of GDP	26.7%	20%
Agriculture, forestry and fishing value added, % of GDP	14.6%	2.8%
Charges for the use of intellectual property, payments BoP	$7.9B	$6.6B
Charges for the use of intellectual property, receipts BoP	$784.9M	$2.5B
Expense, % of GDP	14.9%	18.8%
Government Expenditure, % of GDP	27.1%	41.5%

India’s economic growth is well diversified across all segments in all industries. Our dependence on the global economy for imports of essentials except Oil is much lesser. Hence, because of the same, any effects of a worldwide economic slowdown have a lesser impact on the Indian economy.

Indian Economy Heading Towards V-Shaped Recovery in 2021: Assocham
India has its own trajectory; we are a country that is so unique and governed by so many parameters that are not applicable to other countries in the world.

In terms of the sheer size (land mass) and our population (which is a point of concern) is mainly in the category of young people that are contributors to the growth of the economy. Whereas in other European countries, there is a growing concern about its populace which is on a decline and primarily from the aged category; hence contribution towards growth is also a looming concern.

The Indian startup ecosystem is robust, and while funding has become a concern, we innovate, evolve and adapt to stay on top of any market situation applicable at a given point in time.

Conclusion: the Spanish daily perhaps should have done its homework on what is the right and correct depiction of India’s economic growth. India is not a country that is living in the dark ages, while the rest of the world seems to have progressed to Mars.

Cultural education and the realities of today’s world ecosystem are a must for any media house which is responsible for giving out facts and information. It should not be tainted by prejudices, preconceived notions or insulting towards any community, country or people in general.

The Twitter backlash can be taken as a point of learning and moving forward with a more realistic and correct depiction so as not to stork a controversy in the future.

edited and proofread by nikita sharma