BT India@100: Will India become an economic superpower? Here’s what experts have to say

While sharing their views on India’s journey towards becoming a global economic superpower at BTIndia@100 Summit in New Delhi on Saturday, experts from various fields shared their thoughts on the country’s current state, challenges and potential opportunities. The conversation also emphasised India's role on the global stage, its relationship with the United States, the importance of state-level policies, and the strategies to tackle inflation and unemployment.

As the conversation shifted to the US-India relationship, a former diplomat shared his perspective on the matter. Ambassador (Retd.) Atul Keshap, President, USIBC talked about the concept of 'G3' and said he would prefer to talk about G2 and that is the US and India.

“I will say that the US-India relations are as good today as I have ever seen in my entire life. The focus has to be on building India-US relations,” he said, adding if you look at things like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, defence and cybersecurity, it is clear it's a G2 world and that's the United States and India.

On the other hand, Gautam Chikermane, Vice-President, Observer Research Foundation said, “We should continue to talk about G3 because, despite the fact that China has metamorphosed into a rogue nation, countries are finding it difficult to decouple from it.”

He further added that it is a fact that everyone is now averse to China but it is equally a fact that China is here for the long term. "It has got its supply chains embedded everywhere. "How do we get out of this?" is the question that has been bothering me and many governments."

Chikermane further spoke about decoupling with China, he added that India survived three oil shocks, global economic crisis, Asian crisis and Covid crisis in the last 50 years. At the same time, a lot of thinkers say that we are living in a world of black swans and disruption is the new stability. If that is the case, what is preventing countries across the world from taking one big hit at one big time and moving on and just decoupling because China is a rogue nation, he asked.

R Gopalan, former secretary, Finance Ministry responded to a question on whether if India can become China plus one for the rest of the world in the next 20-25 years. "Yes, it is possible but we have to do a lot of hard work to achieve the same. We have to see to grow on an average of 10.5 per cent on a nominal rate to get to this $25 trillion by 2047. We have to ensure that we grow by 7.5 per cent continuously. If that has got to happen then lots of things have to be done which includes work on infrastructure creation, skill development and renewables, among others," he said.

Gopalan further added that we also have to keep our financial system very stable going ahead.

Addressing inflation, the discussion also touched upon India's dependency on energy imports and the role of technological advancements in mitigating this challenge. The consensus was that focusing on the supply side and enabling the private sector's growth were crucial steps to curbing inflation while promoting economic growth. The experts also pointed out that services, which constitute a significant portion of India's GDP, could play a pivotal role in balancing inflation and economic expansion.

Keshap said, "Prime Minister Modi talks about Amrit Kaal - the golden moment and it has come. India has achieved so much in the past few years. India is inviting everyone to Make In India and invest in India which might propel its GDP"

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