Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday completed 4,399 days in office, surpassing Jawaharlal Nehru as India's longest-serving Prime Minister. Over the past 12 years, India's economic, political, and global standing has undergone a significant transformation.
When Modi assumed office in 2014, India was grappling with slowing growth, persistently high inflation, weak private investment, and concerns over policy paralysis. Consumer inflation averaged over 9%, while the economy was still recovering from a period of subdued business sentiment and fiscal stress.
More than a decade later, India has emerged as the world's fifth-largest economy and has navigated a series of global shocks, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, trade disruptions triggered by US tariff measures, and the ongoing geopolitical tensions in West Asia.
1 June 2026
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Taming Inflation
One of the most notable changes has been the moderation in inflation. In FY14, retail inflation averaged 9.4%. Despite periods of elevated crude oil prices, supply-chain disruptions, and global uncertainty, inflation has remained largely within the Reserve Bank of India's target framework over the past decade. The central bank currently projects inflation at 5.1% for FY27.
Lower inflation has helped protect household purchasing power, reduce borrowing costs, and provide policymakers with greater flexibility to support growth.
Another defining economic reform was the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which replaced a fragmented indirect tax structure with a unified national framework. While the rollout faced initial challenges, GST has evolved into one of the world's largest digital tax ecosystems, supported by e-invoicing, analytics, and technology-driven compliance systems. Monthly GST collections now regularly exceed ₹2 lakh crore.
Capital Investments
‘Modinomics’ also placed infrastructure development at the centre of its growth strategy. Capital expenditure allocations increased sharply across successive budgets, driving the expansion of highways, expressways, ports, logistics networks, and railway infrastructure.
Initiatives such as PM Gati Shakti sought to improve coordination across ministries through a common digital planning platform, while railway modernisation accelerated through electrification projects, dedicated freight corridors, and the rollout of Vande Bharat trains.
Digital India
Another significant transformation under PM Modi is the greater and accelerated push for Digital India. The combination of Aadhaar, Jan Dhan accounts, mobile connectivity, and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) created a digital public infrastructure framework that has attracted global attention.
Since its launch in 2016, UPI has revolutionised digital payments, processing billions of transactions every month and transforming the way individuals and businesses transact.
India’s Global Standing
Moreover, the most significant shift has been India's growing role in the global economy. From being viewed primarily as a promising emerging market in 2014, India is now increasingly regarded as one of the key drivers of global economic growth, with important Free Trade Agreements including that with the UK signed after near fall-out of the discussions back in 2013.
India's share of the global economy has risen from about 2.8% in 2014 to 3.7% in 2024, while foreign exchange reserves stood at $682.3 billion in May 2026, reflecting a considerably stronger macroeconomic position than a decade ago.
Expanding Social Welfare
Alongside economic reforms, the government expanded welfare programmes with a focus on scale and technology-driven delivery.
The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana brought millions of previously unbanked citizens into the formal financial system and laid the foundation for one of the world's largest direct benefit transfer networks.
The Swachh Bharat Mission elevated sanitation into a national priority, while the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana helped millions of families gain access to housing.
Schemes such as Ujjwala Yojana, Ayushman Bharat and PM-KISAN sought to improve access to clean cooking fuel, healthcare and income support for farmers.
Agriculture and Rural Development
Agriculture has remained a key focus area during the Modi years.
Under the PM-KISAN scheme, more than ₹3 lakh crore has been transferred directly into farmers' bank accounts, providing income support and improving financial stability in rural areas.
The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana expanded crop insurance coverage, helping farmers manage risks arising from weather-related uncertainties.
The government's focus on horticulture, dairy, fisheries and organic farming has diversified rural income sources, while initiatives such as the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) have aimed to improve market access and price discovery for farmers.
Even with mounting pressure from Washington to open up Indian agri makret, the Modi government has supported and protected the much sensitive agricultural and dairy market from being flooded with imports.
Twelve years after 2014, the Indian economy bears little resemblance to the one Modi inherited. While challenges remain, including employment generation and income inequality to global economic uncertainties, the period has been marked by significant structural changes across taxation, infrastructure, digitalisation, welfare delivery and India's role in the global economy.
