MODINOMICS
AND GROWTH

The launch of ModiNomics: A Journey of Inclusive Growth was more than the unveiling of another book on economic policy. For author and reforms historian Sameer Kochhar, this sixth book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi is deeply personal. “I was one of the very few people who had a firsthand account—not from him, not from the government of Gujarat, but from the people whose lives changed,” he said. The book, timed to coincide with Modi completing 25-years in public office and turning 75, gathers case studies and voices from across India. It aims to capture how ordinary citizens experienced the policy shifts of the last quarter century.

Kochhar admitted that writing contemporary history is like “openheart surgery,” but argued that India’s story of inclusive growth needed to be told. His indices of state performance, which feed into the book, show progress across regions: “No state has been left behind—from Bihar to Maharashtra, there is forward movement.” ModiNomics, he suggested, is not simply a celebration but a record of reforms tested against people’s lived realities.

The book’s theme of inclusiveness threaded through the evening’s remarks. Pinky Anand, Senior Advocate, recalled her own journeys to Gujarat for the Vibrant summits. For her, the vibrancy she witnessed there is mirrored in the pages of the book. “Modiji listens, absorbs and translates ideas into action,” she observed. ModiNomics, she argued, captures that process by highlighting how schemes like Jan Dhan Yojana and digitalisation through Aadhaar reshaped the economy by empowering ordinary people. She praised the book for linking economics with society, law and culture—dimensions often overlooked in policy debates.

Mahendra Dev, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said the book rightly frames growth alongside inclusion and sustainability. He pointed to Kochhar’s documentation of reforms such as IBC, GST and RERA and their role in stimulating investment, while also spotlighting welfare measures like PM-Kisan and nutritional schemes. “Employment is the most inclusive growth,” he stressed, noting that ModiNomics treats jobs not only as factory-based but also through self employment and entrepreneurship. He called the book “a reminder that reforms must always be judged by how they touch people’s lives.”

From the governance lens, M Ramachandran, former Urban Development Secretary, said what distinguished the book was its detailed attention to programmes like Swachh Bharat and Ujjwala Yojana, showing their impact on women’s dignity and daily life. He recalled being impressed by Modi’s mastery of urban transport policy in Gujarat and saw that same preparation reflected in the schemes documented in Kochhar’s work. “The advantage he had,” Ramachandran remarked, “was ground-level interaction. He knew the problems before they were explained to him.” ModiNomics, in his view, captures how that sensibility translated into nationwide programmes.

India’s development trajectory now appears “spatially dispersed, job generative, equitable and sustainable.” Anecdotes, whether Kochhar recalling farmers cheering at a 2013 conference or Pinky Anand describing how Aadhaar shifted from courtroom controversy to near-universal acceptance—were woven back to the book’s central claim: that inclusive governance has been the defining feature of Modi’s years in public life.