India enters 2026 at a pivotal moment. Abject poverty is no longer the defining challenge. Accordingly, India has new problems to solve: Improving livelihoods, productivity and quality of life for a rapidly aspirational population.
But unlike China’s rise in the early 2000s, India must grow in a fragmenting global order where supply chains are political, technology is balkanising, and globalisation is in retreat.
In Capital Calculus‘ special first episode of 2026, StratNewsGlobal.Tech spoke to Dr. Rajiv Kumar, former Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, to unpack:
- What defines the “New India”
- How development must evolve beyond poverty reduction
- The jobs and productivity challenge
- Social protection for a middle-income society
- India’s export strategy in a de-globalising world
- The role of states in the next wave of reforms
- India’s biggest constraints — and its biggest opportunities
- The priorities for the upcoming Union Budget.
In several ways, this conversation sets the stage for India’s economic trajectory in 2026 and beyond.
Anil Padmanabhan has been a journalist for the last 36 years. He has worked in various capacities in several publications including Afternoon Despatch & Courier, Press Trust of India, Business Standard, Mint and was based in New York for India Today. He was a Nieman Fellow in 2001. He tweets at @capitalcalculus.
