WEF: India on the way to become the third-largest, and a $10 trillion economy
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: India is well on the way to becoming a USD10 trillion economy in coming years and grabbing the third-largest slot soon, World Economic Forum President (WEF) Borge Brende said on Thursday.
Describing the South Asian nation as a place brimming with optimism not seen elsewhere in a very fragmented and polarized world, he said the WEF hopes to return to this country with the WEF India Summit in collaboration with the Government of India at an appropriate time.
“The Indian economy is the fastest growing among all large economies of the world. We saw in Davos this year that there was a huge interest in India and I think this will only continue,” Brende told an Indian media outlet.
The Geneva-based WEF, an international organization for public-private cooperation, holds its annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos every year in January. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is always very, very welcome to Davos.”
“When you come to India, you feel some optimism which is not the case all over the world. We are facing a geopolitical recession, a very fragmented and polarized world, but still there are areas where we can collaborate and it is important to find those areas,” he said.
On India targeting to become the third-largest economy in the next 2-3 years, Brende said India is on track to become a USD 10 trillion economy in the coming years.
“India has gone through important reforms and is well placed vis-a-vis the two largest economies, the US and China. Also, India is seeing a good increase in foreign direct investments (FDIs), a lot of manufacturing activities are now taking place in India which used to happen in other emerging economies,” he said.
Brende also lauded India’s digital competitiveness and said digital trade is growing much faster than traditional goods.
On India’s role in handling geopolitical conflicts, Brende said, “We will see a larger and larger Indian footprint on the global diplomatic scene in the years to come.” India’s key priority so far has been to secure economic growth, eradicate poverty, and ensure its prosperity.
“I think India has also stayed away from any knee-jerk reactions on geopolitical issues. It’s not an easy neighborhood in Asia but India has dealt with situations very well and we do not see any conflicts in this region as we have seen in places like Ukraine and the Middle East,” he added.
Brende said India is an important country when it comes to digitalization with 1.4 billion people with digital IDs, linked bank accounts, and effective payment systems.
“At the same time, the advent of new technologies raises concerns. While there are big opportunities presented by generative AI, there are also threats in the form of deepfakes and increased cyberattacks. So, it is necessary to be vigilant and also have policies for that,” he said.
For example, cybercrime last year stole USD 2 trillion from the global economy, he added.
