India, Nov. 30 -- An 8.2% GDP growth in the quarter ending September and an 8% growth in the first half of the fiscal year are unambiguously good numbers as far as the economy is concerned. This underlines the inherent robustness of the Indian economy at a time when the global economy is in a funk, and India has had to weather quite a few disruptions in its external economic engagements. The fact that this growth has come at a time when inflation is lower than normal - more on this later -also shows that the economy is anything but overheated at the moment. This is good news again.

What is driving this growth? The short answer is a growth boost in manufacturing and services on the production side. Services are clocking very close to doub...