India's GDP calculation is flawed, says Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia
What's the story
Sabeer Bhatia, the co-founder of Hotmail, has raised concerns over how India measures its economic growth.
Speaking on a recent podcast, he stressed that the country needs to rethink its work culture and economic measurement methods to compete with China.
Bhatia thinks the current system of calculating India's GDP is flawed as it inflates economic output by focusing on monetary transactions, not actual work done.
Critique
Flaws in GDP calculation listed
Bhatia gave a detailed critique of India's GDP calculation method, pointing out its flaws.
He argued the system overestimates economic output by counting monetary transactions as work done.
"Our GDP is all wrong," he said, stressing mere financial transactions shouldn't be equated with actual work or productivity.
The entrepreneur drew parallels with the US system where economic output is directly linked to hours worked and their value.
Plan
Proposal for a new work system
Bhatia proposed a new work system for India that values human effort.
He suggested implementing an hourly rate across job categories, from manual laborers to professionals like lawyers and doctors.
"The way India fixes this is to first make sure that everybody is based on an hourly system," he said, emphasizing that "hours of effort lead to progress, not transactions."
Work ethic
Bhatia's vision for a new work culture
Bhatia believes a shift in work culture is imperative for India to match China's development.
He slammed the trend of engineering graduates switching to managerial roles instead of honing their technical skills.
"99% of Indians who graduate as engineers join management and start giving gyaan to everybody," he said, questioning why these graduates don't have hands-on work experience.
Education
Education accessibility is key to progress
Bhatia also stressed on making education accessible to all, similar to China's subsidizing education and basic needs.
"Education today is the prerogative of rich," he said, hinting digital tools might offer a practical solution to this problem.
Bhatia ended by saying younger generations must take the lead in this change, emphasizing critical thinking as essential for long-term development.