The claim that India is too poor to matter—based on its low GDP per capita—is not just overused, it’s bad economics. A startup founder is calling out the flawed logic with a clean takedown powered by data.
Shivam Parashar, an IIT graduate and entrepreneur, posted on LinkedIn to push back against a narrative he says lacks critical context.
The idea that India’s economic power can be summed up by its nominal GDP per capita—around $2,700 to $2,800—is, in his view, both misleading and outdated.
Parashar points to purchasing power parity (PPP) as the more accurate measure. Unlike nominal GDP, which converts local earnings into U.S. dollars using exchange rates, PPP adjusts for cost-of-living differences and what money can actually buy in a country.
“When people cite India’s low GDP per capita, they’re often quoting nominal figures,” he wrote. “But that ignores the ground reality.”
According to PPP, India’s GDP per capita climbs to $9,000–10,000—roughly three times higher. And that makes a massive difference. “That same $1 in the US may get you a bottle of water. In India, it could buy you a full meal, a bus ticket, or even a haircut,” he added.
More importantly, PPP rankings place India third globally in total GDP, behind only the U.S. and China.
That, Parashar says, better reflects the country’s real economic scale and its fast-expanding middle class.
He doesn’t deny India’s structural challenges: “Yes—we still face big challenges,” he wrote, naming inequality, job quality, and rural poverty. But reducing the conversation to a dollar figure, he argued, misses the broader picture.
“To judge India’s progress solely on nominal GDP per capita is not just simplistic—it’s misleading,” Parashar concluded. “You can’t measure the potential of a nation just by currency conversion—you have to look at what that currency can do.”
