According to India's executive director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian, the government can double the beneficial policies it has put in place over the past ten years and speed up reforms to develop the Indian economy at an eight percent annual rate until 2047.
Subramanian went on to say that while the 8% growth objective is indeed ambitious - India has never had steady growth at 8% - it is also attainable.
"The basic idea is that India can grow at an annual rate of 8% from now until 2047 if we can accelerate reforms and double the good policies that we have implemented over the last ten years, given the kind of growth the country has seen in the last ten years," he stated at the Times Now Summit.
In the final three months of 2023, India's GDP grew at a faster-than-expected rate of 8.4%, marking the strongest growth in the previous 1.5 years.
The growth rate in October-December helped take the estimate for the current fiscal to 7.6 per cent.
"And if India grows at 8 per cent, India can be a USD 55 trillion economy by 20147," Subramanian added.
He pointed out that historically from 1991 onwards, India's average growth has been slightly more than 7 per cent.
Subramanian emphasized that India needs to strengthen its domestic economy as about 58 per cent of the country's GDP comes from domestic consumption.
"Therefore, you know, we do have the potential if we can create enough jobs, you know, that will lead to much higher consumption," he stated.
India's executive director at the IMF emphasized the importance of promoting the manufacturing sector in order to create jobs.
He also emphasized the need for reforms in the areas of labour, capital, land, and logistics.
"Reforms are required in the manufacturing sector, but at the same time, we also need reforms in our banking sector to provide credit for the manufacturing sector," Subramanian stated.
