India must grow rapidly to turn $35 trn economy by 2047: Kant

NEW DELHI: India will be the third largest economy by 2027 and it needs to grow at rapid rates to become a $35 trillion economy by 2047, the country’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said on Wednesday.

Addressing an event organised by the All India Management Association, Kant further said that India needs to grow at 9-10 per cent year after year for the next three decades. “India will be the third largest economy by 2027. And now that Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany are all in the recession phase, we should be able to do it much quicker and much faster,” he said.

Currently, India is the fifth largest economy and the size of the Indian economy would be about $3.6 trillion by March 31, 2024 in nominal terms. “And it is important to be ambitious to make India grow at rapid rates and be $35 trillion economy by 2047,” Kant added. He noted that India has come a long way from the time when it had faced balance sheet problems.

Kant pointed out that unlike the West, where all innovation came from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Meta and Apple, India has demonstrated the power of digital public infrastructure. The G20 Sherpa said by 2047, India should be an exporter of energy or clean energy to the rest of the world.

“Our aim will be to become the cheapest producer, the cheapest exporter of green hydrogen and its liquid form ammonia and to be the biggest manufacturer of electrolyser,” he said.

In the years to come, Kant said the country will grow on the back of sustainable urbanisation, enhanced agricultural productivity and increased exports.