‘Trump’s perception of India as dead economy misplaced’

New Delhi: With leading international agencies, including IMF, continuing to project India as the fastest-growing major economy in the world, analysts said that US President Donald Trump’s description of India as a “dead economy” is “misplaced”.

India continues to be a hot-bed for foreign investment with several international giants looking at the country for setting up manufacturing base to Global Capability Centres (GCCs).

Also, Indian talent is most sought after particularly in the tech sector and has been a major exporter of services to countries, including the US.

A day after announcing 25 per cent tariffs on India, plus a ‘penalty’ for its trade with Russia, Trump in a social media post on Thursday said, “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.”

Consultancy firm EY India described Trump’s comments against India as “quite misplaced” and said, in fact, the centre of gravity of the world economy is slowly shifting to the Global South for which India has placed itself in a leading role.

“On the other hand, the erstwhile developed economies are ageing fast and it is largely the contribution that Indian diaspora makes in these economies that they continue to show some positive growth,” EY India Chief Policy Advisor DK Srivastava said.

Incidentally, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its assessment of the Indian economy in February 2025 had commended “the authorities’ prudent macroeconomic policies and reforms, which have contributed to making India’s economy resilient and once again the fastest growing major economy”.

IMF had also said India’s strong economic performance provides an opportunity to advance critical and challenging structural reforms to realise its ambition of becoming an advanced economy by 2047.

EY’s Srivastava further said the Indian economy is the most lively and dynamic in the world with its population among the youngest.

As per the UN Population Statistics (2024), the median age of India’s population is 28.8 years whereas that of the US is 38.5 and that of Europe is 42.8 years.