How India built a 600 million-strong middle class - from the founding of IIT Kharagpur in 1951 to the economic reforms of 1991. In 1947, fewer than five percent of Indians belonged to the middle class, literacy stood at 12 percent, and the average Indian earned 250 rupees a year. Four decades of the Licence Raj held annual growth to three to four percent. After the 1991 balance-of-payments crisis, when India pledged 67 tonnes of gold for an IMF loan, growth doubled and the middle class expanded from 70 million in the 1980s to 600 million by 2012.
Palki Sharma brings you the full story on Bharat Bioscope.

Timestamps - Generated by AI

0:00 The IIT Kharagpur origin story (prison to promise)
0:53 Why this story matters: education as a social ladder
1:23 Defining the "middle class"
1:51 India's middle class today and future projections
1:58 India at independence (1947): poverty and scarcity
3:34 Colonial legacy: from 25% of world GDP to 3-4%
4:02 Nation-building: IITs and the mixed economy model
4:56 The License Raj and the "Hindu rate of growth"
5:41 The middle class under the License Raj (1947-1980s)
6:25 Life of scarcity: waiting lists and queues
6:50 First signs of change: color TV, Asian Games, Maruti 800
7:57 The 1991 economic crisis (forex crunch, gold airlift, IMF loan)
9:04 The 1991 reforms and India's economic turnaround
9:36 Middle class boom: growth, literacy, and poverty reduction
10:24 The new, aspirational middle class
11:34 India's middle class on the global stage (2036 outlook)
11:56 Modern challenges: cost of living, debt, and AI disruption
12:52 The middle class as India's engine of growth
13:22 Conclusion: education's bet on India's future

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