Trapped in the Middle: Why Indias Middle Class Faces an Uncertain Future in a Booming Economy

Opinion Piece Part 1: Unmasking the Hidden Struggles of India’s Middle Class Amid Surging Economic Growth.

I have been privy to, like many others, what is happening in the Indian Economy, and particularly to the Indian middle class. Layoffs, taxes, GST, health insurance, education, future investments, real-estate and many more tough expenses that middle-class has to grapple with on a daily basis — as if these are not enough Indian middle-class also needs to battle with propaganda politics, casteism, traffic, bad infrastructure, poor roads, uninhabitable living conditions (ex: Delhi and the entire Indo-gangetic plain living in worst inhuman air quality), climate change (extreme heat, water shortage, natural disasters) — It makes me worry. Worry got me curious.

My curiosity piqued, I began asking a string of questions: How secure is our so-called “middle-class” status, really? Is India’s soaring GDP growth any buffer against the realities of inflation, stagnant wages, and abrupt job losses? What started as an informal quest for answers turned into a deep dive over the next few days as I uncovered the data, stories, and alarming trends you’re about to read. The more I dug, the more I realized that India’s middle class — often hailed as the backbone of our consumer…