‘Increasing per capita income vital’

CHENNAI: India can become the third-largest economy in the world in four or five years but increasing the per capita income and elimination of poverty is also important, noted economist and former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Dr C Rangarajan said.

Rangarajan, chairman, Madras School of Economics, said India can grow to become the third-largest economy in the world quickly as the secular growth of developed economies will be slow.

“They have reached a stage where their growth will be slow,” he added.

Rangarajan said how India eliminates poverty and increases the per capita income are also important. He said the per capita income of Indians has to grow by about five times to reach the per capita income of those in the developed economies.

On India overtaking the UK to become the fifth-largest economy in the world, he said that India and the UK cannot be compared as their sizes are vastly different. According to him, in the next four/five years, India may become the third largest economy but the goals should be different. Rangarajan was responding to the media questions after launching the five-year Fellow Programme in Management (FMP) of business school Great Lakes Institute of Management.