The government has announced that India’s inflation-adjusted GDP grew by 7.8 percent during April to June 2026 compared with the same three months a year earlier. Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the figure in a video message and urged citizens to support the economy by avoiding foreign travel, buying less gold and holding weddings in India rather than overseas. But the apparent expectation that most citizens would also celebrate the figure and congratulate the government confuses vicarious, or symbolic, satisfaction in the country’s economic performance with an improvement people can see in their incomes, expenses and living conditions.