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While India is moving towards the mission of Viksit Bharat’ and will become a developed country by 2047, the development path for India will not be the same as that of China as they have different environment and capabilities, Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman of the Capacity Building Committee, said said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set out a vision of what India will be as a developed country and a lot of thought is going on: We want this to be different, Zainulbhai said.
The development path for India will not be the same as the development path for China. So for every article comparing China’s growth to India’s, India’s growth over the next 25 years will not follow the Chinese model. Because we cannot do that, it is a different environment and India’s capabilities are different, he said.
According to the World Bank, China’s strong growth has been based on investment and export-oriented production, an approach that has largely reached its limits and led to economic, social and environmental imbalances.
Zainulbhai was addressing a special event Developed India @ 2047 organized by the Consulate General of India in New York here on Thursday, with remarks by Ron Somers, Founder and CEO of India First Group and the former President of leading US-India advocacy group. Business Council (USIBC), as well as a panel discussion.
Viksit Bharat, or Developed India by 2047, is Prime Minister Modi’s vision that represents a complete blueprint for the country’s prosperity. Zainulbhai said a developed India should not only include housing for all, healthcare for all, employment for all and education for all, but it is also about a self-reliant country, clean cities, a united and inclusive India and transparency.
“We are trying to look at this as a complete picture of India, rather than just one or two or three. One of the things we hope to do is to focus not just on GDP, but also on the quality of the country. of life within that Viksit Bharat, he said.
Zainulbhai added that there are many things to do to achieve the vision of a developed India by 2047. He added that one of the reasons he is optimistic about the next twenty years is that the demographics of India are changing in such a way that we will have a very, very large upper middle class.
Replying to a question during the panel discussion on what will be the key drivers for India to achieve its vision of becoming a developed country by 2047, Zainulbhai said India’s demographic structure is a big driver, as is infrastructure investment.
The infrastructure investment in India right now, as a percentage of GDP and just in terms of the total amount of rupees spent, is a huge driver of the economy. He said adding that infrastructure itself drives growth and therefore investing in infrastructure is a necessity. way to stimulate growth.
So infrastructure of any kind – airports, roads, ports, power generation facilities, transmission facilities, railways – is a huge investment and that drives growth, he said.
He added that a lot needs to be done in the Indian education system to improve it. Let’s all agree on that. And that’s one of the big things we have to do.
He further said that India has an astonishing entrepreneurial talent and there are policies in place that allow entrepreneurial talent to flourish and the economy to grow.
Zainulbhai said some of the largest companies in India are now becoming world-class, citing the example of Reliance Industries. Indian companies have grown dramatically. Indian banks have grown dramatically. So the Indian entrepreneurs are also building and creating very, very quickly and that stimulates the economy, he said.
Consul General of India in New York Binaya Srikanta Pradhan told the gathering, which was attended by leading members of the Indian-American diaspora, US executives, policy experts and think tanks, that Developed India 2047, in the Prime Minister’s words, is a mission. that requires not just ambition, but a multifaceted strategy that includes economic growth, robust governance reforms, the clean energy transition and scientific progress.
Pradhan added that the India-US partnership can be a key stakeholder in India’s journey for the next 23 years. It can help in this journey and at the same time become one of the main beneficiaries of this process. So, it will be a win-win situation for both India and the United States, he said.
He underlined five areas in India-US cooperation that will contribute to the vision of developed India 2047 while benefiting both India and the United States. These include enhanced trade investment and deeper economic integration, cooperation on technology and innovation, education and skills development, healthcare and climate change and sustainability.
The synergy between India’s development goals and key US interests creates a strong foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship, enabling India to achieve its vision of becoming a developed country by 2047, while significantly benefiting the US, it said Pradhan.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: May 25, 2024 | 11:18 am IST