NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India had achieved a 7.8 per cent GDP growth despite “challenges created by economic selfishness,” a pointed remark seen as a veiled dig at US President Donald Trump.Trump recently imposed steep 50 per cent tariffs on Indian exports—the joint-highest with Brazil—marking a sharp escalation in trade tensions. The second round of 25 per cent duties, which took effect on August 27, targeted India over its continued purchase of Russian oil, which Washington claims is “funding” Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
“Just a few days ago, the GDP numbers for the first quarter of this year have come. Once again, India has performed better than every expectation, every assessment. At a time when there are concerns in world’s economies, due to challenges created by economic selfishness; India has achieved a growth of 7.8 per cent,” PM Modi said in Delhi as he inaugurated the Semicon India event.If India’s current economic momentum holds, the prime minister noted, the nation’s path to becoming the world’s third-largest economy would only accelerate.Also Read: ‘No cause for panic’: India-US tariff issue manageable, say govt sources; impact unlikely to be ‘severe’“Oil shaped the last century, and the fate of the world was tied to oil wells. But in the 21st century, power is concentrated in the small chip. Though tiny, the chip has the strength to drive the world’s progress at great speed,” he added.