'6.5% GDP not enough...': India’s 65% youth population may go untapped, warns TRUST Mutual Fund CIO in sharp post

India stands at a pivotal crossroads. With nearly 65% of its population under the age of 35, the country is brimming with potential. This demographic dividend — one of the largest youthful workforces in the world—could be a powerful engine for long-term economic growth. But that promise hinges on one crucial question: will India rise to the occasion, or squander the opportunity?

Mihir Vora, Chief Investment Officer at TRUST Mutual Fund, voiced concern over whether India is truly making the most of its demographic advantage. 

In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Vora wrote, “Let’s hope that when we look back after 25 years, we don’t regret that India under-utilized time and talent due to lack of opportunity-creation and frittered away the ‘demographic dividend’ which it is blessed with for the next 2-3 decades.”

He didn’t stop there. “6.5% GDP growth is not enough to pull us up. We have to aim higher 8-10%,” he added.

Vora’s comments came while resharing another post that criticised the prioritisation of resources towards short-sighted goals. That post, by Zane Hengsperger, GM at Delta 70 Manufacturing, lamented the “misallocation of time, talent, and capital” toward building unicorns solving “lazy problems” like food delivery.

“I think we will look back in 25 years and realise that we misallocated time, talent, and capital at an absurd magnitude,” Hengsperger wrote. “All while since 2000, US steel production has dropped 34% (108M tons to 71M tons), we lost 5.8M manufacturing jobs, and China now produces 57% of global steel vs our 4%.”

A demographic dividend arises when a country sees a higher proportion of working-age people relative to dependents, creating a window of economic potential. But this potential can only translate into real gains with the right investments in education, skills, and employment generation.

If not, the risks are equally significant: unemployment, social unrest, and a generation of wasted potential.