India's new willingness to binge on debt may leave economy far less secure

Once the pandemic retreats, India might end up with a debt-to-GDP ratio north of 90 per cent, compared to the low seventies at present

India’s economy has suffered more than most from the pandemic and so have its people. The country has lost more than a year’s worth of growth and perhaps a decade’s progress in its efforts to reduce poverty. The economic contraction — the first in India since the 1970s — has put pressure on its government like so many others to respond.
 

Until this week, that response had been relatively restrained. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government seemed to recognize that there was only so much it could do to address the economic contraction, especially while the pandemic is still raging. By