As the sun prepares to rise on its 20th year of publication, Mint, the financial daily that first hit the stands in the early hours of 1 February, 2007, is choosing a forward gaze. Instead of a traditional review of 2025, the publication has launched an ambitious editorial project titled 'Springboard 2026', designed to map the contours of the year ahead for India's dynamic economy.
The Philosophy: Learning from History to Imagine the Future
The initiative draws inspiration from public intellectual Yuval Noah Harari's 2024 insight that the true value of history is to "free yourself of the past and imagine alternative destinies." This forward-looking principle guided the editors, including Ravi Krishnan, to pivot from a retrospective year-ender to a predictive launchpad. The series aligns seamlessly with Mint's core tagline: 'Think Ahead, Think Growth.'
The rationale is rooted in India's undeniable macroeconomic momentum. The nation is already the world's fastest-growing major economy and is projected to maintain its status as the single largest growth market for the next decade or two. Landmark milestones are on the horizon: India is set to overtake Japan as the world's fourth-largest economy in late 2026. Subsequently, annual incremental GDP growth is expected to exceed $500 billion—a sum comparable to the entire national income of the Philippines or Norway today. The government ambitiously targets surpassing Germany to claim the number three spot globally within three years, a goal analysts believe is achievable before 2030.
Why 2026-2035 is Being Touted as 'The Indian Decade'
The period from 2026 to 2035 is poised to be transformative, fueled by massive public investment and robust market expectations. This 'Indian Decade' promises to catapult the economy onto a new trajectory. However, the editors acknowledge this growth comes with persistent challenges: inequality, jobless growth, stagnant farm productivity, and social schisms remain significant headwinds. The central question the series implicitly asks is whether the cumulative effect of various sectoral advances will coalesce into broad-based, transformative prosperity for all Indians.
A Curated Feast of Forward-Looking Stories
Mint's team of reporters and editors, including Neil Rodricks who steered the project, produced over 50 stories—more than double the previous year's count. This expansive series, featuring expert columns alongside newsroom reporting, examines a vast spectrum of topics critical to India's future.
The coverage is both macro and micro, including deep dives into:
- The potential payoff year for India's overall economy in 2026.
- The energy transition's new arcs: battery storage, transmission, and nuclear power.
- Corporate India's trends: hinterland hiring, gig economy growth, and AI disruption.
- The explosion of debt in middle-class India.
- India's strategic inflection point in the global trade landscape.
- Sector-specific forecasts for dairy exports, electric mobility, the paint industry, and the IT sector, with a spotlight on companies like Ather and Coforge under CEO Sudhir Singh.
- The deepening economic partnership with Japan.
This collection serves as a meticulously curated guide to the forces that will shape India's business and economic narrative in the coming year, offering readers a strategic telescope to view the opportunities and challenges of 2026 and beyond.
