India's hypergrowth: A startup on steroids or sustainably brilliant?

Growth vs sustainability? THE question every startup eventually has to answer.

Apr 27, 2023

India surpassed China as the world's most populous country. Unlike China, India’s population is much younger, and the work force is expanding.

India is building massive infrastructure - right from digital (UPI is going global) to physical infra and honestly, there has been no better time to invest and scale in India than now.

It almost feels like a startup which is in a hypergrowth phase.

But like any hypergrowth startup, the big question is: how real is this growth? Like a typical hyper growth startup, are we leaving a trace of destruction as we scale. Or all this is part of the game?

Curating 4+1 news pieces for you: 2 on high-growth phase India is and 2 on the implications of it

India's petroleum consumption broke all records in 2022-23

Currently, India has a refining capacity of around 250 million tonnes per annum. Plans are underway to notch it up to 450 million tonnes in the next few years.
In March, India’s crude oil demand was driven by bitumen, used to build roads. Sales soared 16.5% to 933,000 tonnes from February. Transportation fuels like diesel, which account for 40% of the country’s total consumption, also jumped 11.6% in March to 7.87 million tonnes [Source]

Infrastructure is the backbone of any nation's development. Without it, progress is impossible." - Narendra Modi

India is building capacity for a massive growth in transportation and logistics

"The strength of our infrastructure determines the strength of our economy." - Barack Obama

That is, we are investing heavily in infrastructure, an important backbone of growth.

"Infrastructure is not just about roads and bridges; it is about the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the environment we live in." - Pete Buttigieg

India has lost the second-largest forest area among all countries in five years.

India lost 668,400 hectares (ha) of jungles on average between 2015 and 2020, a new report has said.
The is only second to the scale of deforestation in Brazil, noted the report released last month by Utility Bidder, a UK-based utility costs comparison firm : source

Heatwave in India: 90% of India, entire Delhi in 'danger' zone of heatwave impacts, finds study

About 90 per cent of India is in the "extremely cautious" or "danger" zone from heatwave impact and almost all of Delhi is particularly vulnerable to severe heatwave impacts, says a new study.
The study, conducted by Ramit Debnath and colleagues at the University of Cambridge, suggested that heatwaves have impeded India's progress towards achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) more significantly than previously thought / source

Long-term impact on GDP

India may lose 3-10% GDP annually by 2100 due to climate change

India may lose anywhere around 3 to 10 per cent of its GDP annually by 2100 and its poverty rate may rise by 3.5 per cent in 2040 due to climate change [report]

Does this look like a startup in hustle mode, destroying everything that threatens growth? Or is this the price any country will pay for growth?

The answer lies somewhere in the middle, but I am hoping that there is a lot of greenery and breathing space there.