Rewind 2024: How India took giant leaps this year, from economy to space

2024 is coming to a close, with just a few days remaining before New Year. For India, this year was a joyous one. From our sportspeople bringing laurels to the Indian economy’s robust performance, there was much to cheer.

India’s space sector continued to thrive. After the success of Chandrayaan-3 last year, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has now set its eye on Venus. The ‘Gaganyaan’ human spaceflight mission is also in the pipeline.

Before we move to 2025, let’s scroll through this year and see how it changed India.

Modi 3.0 gets going

2024 was a year of elections . India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were among over 60 countries that went to the polls to elect a new government.

In India, Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power for a third consecutive term but with a reduced mandate. The saffron party won 240 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, making it rely on its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners to form the government at the Centre.

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While the opposition INDIA bloc stopped the NDA from reaching its mega target of 400 seats, it failed to unseat PM Modi.

During Cabinet formation, the BJP retained the big four portfolios — home, finance, external affairs and defence — to indicate the PM’s focus on continuity despite a surprise setback in the general elections.

The portfolio allocation also showed the saffron party giving due importance to its alliance partners, with both TDP and JD(U) getting some key portfolios.

Modi 3.0 has so far continued its work without a glitch just like the previous governments.

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India’s strong economy

India’s economy was a bright spot on the global stage. Despite conflicts in West Asia and the Russia-Ukraine war stirring geopolitical tensions and uncertainties, India reported a remarkable Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 8.2 per cent for the fiscal year ending March 2024.

The South Asian country is the world’s fastest-growing major economy. India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) touched a record $1 trillion between April 2000- September 2024.

In September, India became the fourth country with the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves, reaching an all-time high of $704.885 billion in the week ending September 27, as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.

However, challenges such as high inflation still pose a concern. Going forward, India needs to address and tackle these challenges.

ICC T20 World Cup win

India ended their 13-year wait by clinching the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup trophy, defeating South Africa by just seven runs.

The close match had viewers sitting on the edge of their seats.

The much-needed victory came just a few months after the heartbreak of losing the men’s Cricket World Cup to Australia. India’s ICC T20 World Cup win came as a balm for their fans who were left disappointed last year.

This was India’s second time as ICC Men’s T20 World Cup winner after 2007 when they trounced Pakistan to lift the trophy.

Shining at 2024 Paris Olympics

There is a long way for India to go at the Olympics.

In the Paris 2024 Olympics, India won just six medals – a silver and five bronze. The country missed its chance at a gold medal after wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the women’s 50 kg wrestling for being overweight by a mere 100 grammes.

However, this does not mean India did not have cause for celebration.

Manu Bhaker became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic shooting medal by bagging a bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

She went on to make history by becoming the first Indian to win two medals at a single edition of the Olympics after she clinched a bronze in mixed team 10m air pistol with Sarabjot Singh.

Swapnil Kusale increased India’s medal tally by winning a bronze in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions shooting event.

The Indian men’s hockey team returned with a bronze. Neeraj Chopra claimed a silver medal in the javelin throw.

Aman Sehrawat became India’s youngest Olympic medallist with his bronze in wrestling.

India’s space leap

There is no stopping India now. After Isro’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully landed on the Moon last August, the space agency is working to bring more glory to the country.

India is planning to send three astronauts to space , with its ambitious Gaganyaan mission, which is the country’s first human spaceflight programme.

After the Moon and the Sun, India is now aiming for Venus, the Earth’s ‘twin sister’. Isro plans to launch the ambitious Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM) by March 2028.

This will be India’s second mission to a planet, after 2014’s Mars Orbiter Mission.

Last December, Isro chairman S Somanath laid out the lunar exploration roadmap, which included an Indian landing on the Moon by 2040.

India’s private space sector worth over $6 billion is also growing. There are currently at least 140 registered space startups in the country.

As Pawan Goenka, chairman of IN-SPACe, wrote for Business Today in February 2024 the next five years will herald a “new era in the Indian space sector, where the focus is not just on technological advancement but also on global collaboration, on leveraging space for socio-economic benefits and on inclusive growth.”

Record IPOs

2024 was a year of IPOs for India .

Indian companies reportedly raised Rs 1.6 lakh crore in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) this year. This includes Hyundai Motor India’s historic Rs 27,870 crore IPO. Among other notable IPOs, Swiggy debuted its Rs 11,000 crore Initial Public Offering.

A mix of small, medium and large IPOs performed the best on their debut.

As 2025 approaches, it remains to be seen whether IPOs break the current year’s record in the Indian stock market.