Frugal economy model can guide India's growth: Navi Radjou at ET WLF 2025
ET WLF 2025: Navi Radjou suggests India needs a 'frugal economy' model, balancing development with ecological limits, avoiding hypergrowth and degrowth. This model rests on B2B resource sharing, distributed manufacturing, and triple regeneration, ...
By ET TEAM | Updated:
With climate change intensifying and resource scarcity becoming acute, India must chart a new course that balances development with ecological limits, management thinker Navi Radjou said. "Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that India will keep on growing and can grow forever," Radjou said at the event.
He proposed a "frugal economy" model that charts a middle path between hypergrowth and degrowth - two extremes that the country cannot afford.
"India cannot pursue hypergrowth like the US. If all Indians produced and consumed like Americans, we would need five planets to supply the resources and absorb the waste. But India cannot embrace degrowth either, because at least one billion people still need better living standards," Radjou said.
For its sustainable development, India needs to choose a wise middle path rooted in the country's own ingenuity and wisdom, the New York-based innovation scholar said.
According to him, the frugal economy is not a utopia but a fast-emerging model built on three pillars: B2B resource sharing focused on industrial symbiosis; distributed manufacturing, prioritising local impact over scale; and, triple regeneration that puts people, places and the planet at its centre.
He highlighted how Indian startups are pioneering ways for companies to share resources.
Platforms like Vahak, an online freight marketplace, connect small truck owners with shippers to aggregate loads into a single shipment, thereby increasing truck fill rates, which increases incomes for small carriers and reduces emissions by optimising freight routes.
The next frontier for India: Building a 'frugal economy'
