Hindu rate of growth
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Hindu rate of growth is an expression used to refer to the low annual growth rate of the economy of India, which stagnated around 3.5% from 1950 to 1980. The term, coined by Indian economist Raj Krishna is a play on the term secular rate of growth, which is accelerating in nature.
The term also points out that Hindu dominated India's low growth rate was in contrast to high growth rates in other non-Hindu Asian countries, especially the East Asian Tigers, which were also newly independent. This meaning of the term, popularised by Robert McNamara, was used disparagingly and has connotations that refer to the supposed Hindu outlook of fatalism and contentedness.
The economy of India has been growing at rate of around 6-8% since the pro-business economic reforms of the 1980s and the economic liberalisation of 1990s. This has led some economists to associate this term with the high growth rate and thus, has given the term positive connotations, putting paid to the offensive idea that religion and growth rates can be correlated.
