India faces 'extreme pain', aspirations dashed: economist Abhijit Banerjee

The Nobel laureate was sharing his observations from a recent visit to West Bengal.

People in India are in "extreme pain" and the economy is still below the 2019 levels, with "small aspirations" of people becoming even smaller now, Nobel laureate economist Abhijit Banerjee has said.

He was virtually addressing students of the Ahmedabad University in Gujarat on Saturday night from the US during the varsity's 11th annual convocation which was also held online.

The economist was sharing his observations from a recent visit to West Bengal.

"You (students) are in a place where you can give back. Society really needs it. We are in a time of extreme pain in India," he said. "I just spent