‘India’s GDP needs to grow at 9 per cent for next five years to evolve into $5 trillion economy’

Hyderabad: India’s GDP has to grow at nine per cent for the next five years till 2028-29 to be a five trillion dollar economy (about Rs 400 lakh crore), said Dr D Subbarao, Former RBI Governor. Speaking at India @75- Marching Towards $5 Trillion Economy on the occasion of 75 years of Indian Independence celebrations […]

Hyderabad: India’s GDP has to grow at nine per cent for the next five years till 2028-29 to be a five trillion dollar economy (about Rs 400 lakh crore), said Dr D Subbarao, Former RBI Governor.

Speaking at India @75- Marching Towards $5 Trillion Economy on the occasion of 75 years of Indian Independence celebrations held by industry body FTCCI at its premises, he said focus on should be on increasing investments, improving productivity, education and health outcomes, creating jobs, raising agriculture productivity, maintaining macroeconomic stability and managing global mega trends and improving governance. These are now the challenges for India.

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“Though India has made strides in all spheres of lives in the last 75 years, we still have 200 million people under the poverty line which is a huge concern. Also to progress and grow, we need to take along with us the bottom 600 million people in all the development activities. With 12 million youth entering the job market every year, it is only the manufacturing sector which can provide jobs of that scale and not the agriculture, or services sector,” he said.

He welcomed the debates happening on subsidies. “States and the union Government must realise that there are no surplus budgets but some safety net is also needed. They must be cautious and selective on what can be given from borrowed monies. Future generations should not be burdened with unnecessary debt burden,” he said.

“India has become the sixth largest economy of the world. The per capita income now is about $2,220. The country has found a place in the top five nations in science and space exploration. India is the leading producer of coal, steel, electricity and pharmaceuticals globally. India’s GDP stood at Rs 2.7 lakh crore at Independence and has now reached Rs 135.13 lakh crore,” said Anil Agarwal, President, FTCCI.

Srinivas Garimella, Chair IDC committee FTCCI , also spoke. On the occasion, FTCCI released a booklet compiling industrial growth details in the past 7.5 decades, a release said.