"Huge Opportunity For...": Former NITI Aayog CEO On 'The India Century'

India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant today spoke at the NDTV World Summit in Delhi where he mentioned that this will be "India's century".

Mr Kant highlighted how the world is mired in conflicts - both in Europe and in West Asia. While this is sad and unfortunate, he explained that it also presents India - a largely peace-loving and ambitious nation - with an opportunity to set up manufacturing hubs and encourage innovation.

"When you look around the world, there are 3 big challenges," he said, adding that conflict is the first.

"Europe was responsible for World War I, it was also responsible for World War II, and now we have had a war there for the last 3 years. 45,000 people have died in Europe," he said.

"Similarly, 350.000 people have died n the Middle East. The region is up in flames," he added, going on to say that because of these wars, "global value chains are disrupted."

The third, he said, is the "rise of AI and Machine Learning," adding that "Huge enhancement of production is needed. But you need international cooperation to have some pro-innovation regulations on that," he said.

India's road to becoming a developed country by 2047 will require immense ambition and a focus on manufacturing, urbanisation and "firing on all cylinders", Mr Kant said, adding that "India can't grow only on the back of services, it needs to become a manufacturing nation. 17.5% of your GDP comes from manufacturing, you need to take it to 25%."

The former NITI Aayog CEO further said that it India needs to be an integral part of global value chains. "You can't grow at rates of 9-10% year after year for three decades or more - that's what you need to do - so when we are talking of a 'viksit' (developed) Bharat or a $30-trillion economy in  2047, growing from 4 trillion to 30 trillion means that your GDP has to grow nine times, your per capita income has to grow 8 times and your manufacturing has to grow 16 times, that's the challenge. And to overcome that challenge, India needs to become a very integral part of global value chains," he said.

Mr Kant said India needs to export in a big way and that is why there has been a thrust on the production-linked investment scheme.

"You need 10,000 large manufacturing companies here to penetrate global markets. You need size and scale of manufacturing, and you need 12 Indian states to grow at 10% plus. So you need ambition and hunger in states to grow rapidly and you need large companies to penetrate global markets," he said.

"To my mind," he said "this is a huge opportunity for India in all 3 areas of growth. This will not just be India's decade, but will be India's century," he affirmed.