Gross Domestic Product is a terrible way to measure the health of a society. It counts the money spent building jails, buying weapons, and cleaning up oil spills as economic wins. Yet, global policy still treats this single, flawed metric as the ultimate scorecard.
At the G7 Summit in Evian, France, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to state the obvious on the world stage. He stepped up to the microphone during the outreach session on balanced and sustainable growth and dropped a line that explicitly challenged the Western economic consensus. He said the real focus shouldn't be on GDP or trade volumes. Instead, he argued that every leader in that room needs to answer three questions: Growth for whom, with whom, and in what direction?
It's a simple framework, but it exposes a massive rift between the aging, wealthy Western economies and the rapidly growing Global South.
Moving Past the Obsession With Raw Numbers
For decades, the G7 nations—the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada—have dictated global financial rules. Their playbook is simple. Boost the numbers, expand trade, and assume wealth trickles down. But that model is broken.
When you look at the raw data, the flaws are glaring. India is currently the fastest-growing major economy on the planet. Its stock markets are hitting record highs, and foreign investment is pouring in. But if that growth only benefits a sliver of urban tech hubs while leaving rural farmers behind, it fails Modi's first test: growth for whom?
Modi's speech wasn't just a philosophical lecture. It was a direct critique of how international institutions like the World Bank and the IMF allocate resources and judge progress. By shifting the goalposts from GDP numbers to human-centric progress, India is trying to redefine what successful governance actually looks like.
The timing here matters immensely. The Western world is currently grappling with massive internal strains. Energy corridors are fractured, inflation has stung working classes across Europe, and the US is trying to navigate a delicate, high-stakes diplomatic landscape, including a brand-new framework peace agreement with Iran. The old guards are tired, and their citizens are frustrated. Modi used this exact moment of Western vulnerability to point out that chasing abstract economic data points hasn't kept societies stable.
The Exploitation of the Global South
The second question—growth with whom?—hits right at the heart of modern supply chains. Historically, Western economic expansion relied on a pretty extractive relationship with developing nations. The Global North supplied the capital and reaped the profits; the Global South supplied cheap labor, raw materials, and bore the environmental costs.
Modi used the Evian summit to pitch a complete reversal of this dynamic. He pointed out a massive demographic reality that the G7 can no longer ignore. Many Western nations, along with partners like Japan, are rapidly aging. Their workforces are shrinking. Meanwhile, India and the broader Global South are sitting on an abundance of young talent, specialized skills, and raw entrepreneurial energy.
Instead of treating these regions as mere factories for Western corporations, Modi proposed a concrete framework called the International Mobilisation Partnership for Accelerating Connectivity and Trade (IMPACT).
The idea behind IMPACT is straightforward. It is modeled directly after the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) that was drawn up during the 2023 Delhi G20 summit. While IMEC itself has been temporarily stalled due to the ongoing volatility in West Asia, the blueprint remains highly viable. Modi asked the room a very practical question: why not apply this same logic to Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific Islands?
The strategy relies on a specific division of labor:
- G7 Nations: Provide the deep institutional capital and funding.
- India: Supplies the technical talent, digital infrastructure, and project management.
- Global South Nations: Maintain full ownership of the local projects, ensuring the wealth stays within their borders.
To make this work, Modi also called for a Global Skills Partnership. This involves a massive international effort toward skill mapping. The goal is to create trusted, legally protected pathways for skilled mobility, allowing young workers from developing nations to fill critical labor shortages in the West without causing a permanent brain drain at home.
Rewriting the Rules of the Digital and Green Transitions
The final question—growth in what direction?—deals with the dual engines of the modern global economy: technology and climate action.
Look at Artificial Intelligence. Right now, a handful of mega-corporations in Silicon Valley control the underlying models of generative AI. They decide the ethics, the biases, and the financial barriers to entry. During a strategic G7 working lunch focused on the rapid deployment of AI, Modi pushed hard for "AI sovereignty." India’s stance is that technology cannot become a tool for a new kind of digital colonialism. Growth in the right direction means digital tools must be open-source, affordable, and accessible to a government worker in Kenya, not just a startup founder in San Francisco. India has already proven this works at scale with its Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which turned digital banking from a luxury into a free, public utility for hundreds of millions of unbanked citizens.
The same logic applies to the green transition. The West frequently scolds developing nations for using fossil fuels, completely ignoring the historical reality that Western industrialization caused the vast majority of carbon emissions.
India’s diplomatic push at the summit highlighted a "humanity-first approach" to the environment. Instead of carbon taxes that penalize poor nations, Modi pointed to real, India-led initiatives that focus on tangible, scalable actions:
- The International Solar Alliance: Deploying solar infrastructure across energy-poor nations.
- The Global Biofuel Alliance: Creating alternative energy markets that benefit agricultural communities.
- Mission LiFe (Lifestyle for Environment): Shifting the climate conversation toward individual and corporate consumption patterns.
Behind the Sidelines and Photo Ops
International summits are famous for choreography, but the real work happens in the corners. The official family photograph in Evian spoke volumes. Modi was positioned front and center, a deliberate nod from French President Emmanuel Macron toward India's role as the indispensable bridge between the West and the non-aligned world.
Right after the cameras flashed, Modi had a brief, highly scrutinized interaction with US President Donald Trump. They shook hands, Trump patted Modi on the arm, and they sat side by side during the outreach session. It was their first face-to-face meeting since Modi's Washington visit last year.
But don't let the friendly visuals fool you. There is deep friction under the surface. The White House has openly signaled caution regarding a comprehensive US-India trade deal. The negotiations are messy and bogged down by tough, technical disagreements:
- Market Access: The US is aggressively demanding that India open up its highly protected agricultural and dairy markets.
- Tariffs: India has maintained retaliatory tariffs on American goods ever since the US revoked India's Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits back in 2019.
- Digital Policies: India’s strict data localization laws continue to irritate American tech giants.
While optimistic sources hint that a preliminary trade agreement might pull through by late July to offset some of these tariffs, a massive breakthrough in Evian was never on the cards. Senior officials confirmed that further political will is required before anyone signs on the dotted line.
On top of the trade gridlock, there are heavy domestic pressures back in New Delhi. Leaders like Arvind Kejriwal have publicly demanded that Modi directly confront Trump over sensitive bilateral issues, including the recent deaths of Indian seafarers. Modi had to balance these sharp national anxieties while simultaneously playing the role of a global statesman holding structured bilateral talks with a massive roster of leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
How to Apply the Three Questions to Your Business
Modi’s G7 critique isn't just relevant for prime ministers and central bankers. The exact same shift away from vanity metrics is happening in the private sector. If you are still running your company solely on traditional, top-line financial metrics, you are exposed to the same systemic risks facing the G7 economies.
To build a resilient operation, you need to operationalize these three questions within your own team right now.
First, look at your customer base and wealth distribution. Ask yourself: who actually benefits when my company hits its quarterly targets? If your revenue growth is coming at the expense of employee burnout, high turnover, or deteriorating product quality, your business model is unsustainable. Audit your internal pay ratios and invest heavily in frontline retention. Sustainable growth requires that your team's economic reality mirrors the company's success.
Second, re-evaluate your partnerships. Ask: with whom are we building this business? Stop treating vendors, freelancers, and suppliers as lines on an expense sheet to be squeezed for every penny. Move toward the collaborative model Modi pitched on the global stage. Build deeply integrated supply chains based on mutual trust. If you rely on specialized talent, create clear upskilling pathways and geographic flexibility to tap into emerging talent pools before your competitors bid up the costs.
Finally, check your long-term strategy. Ask: in what direction are we moving? Avoid chasing short-term market hype cycle wins that compromise your core structure. If you are integrating new tools like AI, don't just use them to slash headcount. Use them to expand your team's capabilities and build proprietary, sovereignty-protected operational frameworks. Align your business goals with broader societal shifts toward transparency and real, measurable value. Top-line numbers are easy to manipulate, but deep structural health is what keeps a business alive over a decade.
