Thuglak magazine editor S Gurumurthy on Sunday said the common habit of measuring the nation’s economy only through stock market indices needs to change. To understand India’s economy, he said, reading books and college lessons alone is not enough; one must go to the streets and observe how people actually live.
He was speaking after inaugurating “Kumudam Biz News Daily”, a new daily launched by the Kumudam group at a function held at a private hotel on Anna Salai in Chennai.
Recalling his travels across the country under the guidance of Gandhian thinker Dharampal, Gurumurthy said many industrial towns have emerged without government subsidies or large bank loans. He cited Gujarat’s Morbi and Tamil Nadu’s Tiruppur and Karur as examples of local enterprise shaping strong economic ecosystems.
In Morbi, he said, many workers who do not know English manufacture goods from their homes and send them to global markets, challenging the belief that English education is the foundation of industrial growth. He added that Morbi’s industrial economy has repeatedly recovered even after disasters such as floods and earthquakes.
He said Tiruppur’s export sector also reflects this pattern, with many participants educated below Class 12 and very few graduates, yet trading with countries worldwide. In Karur, he noted, family structures—especially the role of women in managing households, building savings and contributing to business—are a key factor behind western Tamil Nadu’s industrial growth. Gurumurthy argued that focusing only on stock market news as “economic news” hides a large part of India’s economy, where savings are often held in land and gold, and where real activity runs through small towns, homes and family networks.
He added that financial awareness must reach grassroots communities in Tamil Nadu and that economics and financial management should not remain limited to a small set of experts. The new daily, he said, aims to reach small entrepreneurs, youth and homemakers with the goals of “knowledge, clarity and prosperity.”
The event was attended by Dinamalar joint editor R Krishnamoorthy, publishers L Adhimoolam and RR Gopalji, Kumudam group chairman and managing director Varadarajan, the new daily’s editor Renganathan, and Kumudam Digital editor Thyaga Semmal, among others.
