New Delhi, July 11 -- New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Saturday said 250 million people have been lifted out of poverty in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the country's middle class now at 440 million and projected to reach 750 million by the end of the decade.

Speaking at one business and sports engagement event in Auckland, Luxon called the numbers "an incredible transformation" and linked it directly to the last decade of growth in India.

"And it's interesting to me that under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, he has lifted 250 million people out of poverty. There is now 440 million people in the middle class, about to be 750 million by the end of the decade, and it is an incredible transformation," he s...