Prime Minister Narendra Modi exclaimed that India is inching towards emerging as the third largest economy of the world as a profound impact of government’s visionary and transformative policy efforts. Prime Minister’s strong and affirmative statement came as a sharp counter to US President Donald Trump’s comment on India as a ‘dead economy’.
“We are rapidly moving towards becoming the top third economy. This speed came to us from the spirit of reform, perform and transform. This speed came to us from clear intention and honest efforts. In 2014, metro connectivity was limited to five cities. But now there is a metro network of more than 1000 kms spread across 24 cities”, said Prime Minister Modi while speaking at a public event in Bengaluru after inaugurating the phase-3 Yellow Line Metro in the city.
Further, as a counter to and strong condemnation of US President’s ‘dead economy’ comment Prime minister reiterated, “before 2014, about 20,000 km of rail route was electrified. Now, we have electrified more than 40,000 km of rail route in the span of 11 years. Till 2014 there were only 74 airports in India. Now, their number has increased to more than 160. The figures of waterways are also equally impressive. In 2014, only 3 national waterways were operational. Now, this number has increased to 30”.
The achievements of the past 11 years have strengthened our resolve for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. pic.twitter.com/NfkEKWCRqj
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 10, 2025
Prime Minister’s remarks indicate a strong resentment to Donald Trump’s baseless claims regarding the Indian economy. Facts and developmental policies speak beyond political accusations and groundless comments. Previous week, US President Donald Trump commented on India and Russian economies as ‘dead economy’ over India’s purchase of Russian oil. “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together” Trump had posted on his social media account. He has even imposed 25% additional tariffs on Indian exports to US for purchasing the Russian oil, thus taking the total tariffs imposed on India to 50%.
Trump’s tariff row on India has escalated despite New Delhi’s repeated clarifications regarding its energy security priorities. India on various occasions has been asserting that the nation’s energy purchases are based on the market trends and with the ultimate motto of securing the energy security and national interest of its 1.4 billion people. Meanwhile, Ministry of External Affairs has strongly refuted Trump’s statements as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
