India can be world’s 4th largest economy by 2047: Jyotiraditya Scindia

The Union minister said the BJP has replaced “socialist straightjacketed” policies and “myopic ideas” with Atmanirbhar Bharat to ensure that every citizen has a role to play in the development of the nation

By 2047, India can become the world’s fourth largest economy, an infrastructure powerhouse and contribute to 15% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Union minister for civil aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Saturday.

Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia during the second day of 7th India Ideas Conclave 'India 2.0: Rebooting to Meta Era', in Bengaluru on Saturday. (PTI)

“By the year 2047, there will be full saturation of all the government schemes and a per capita income of ₹53,000 in 2010-11, will reach above ₹4 lakh per person by 2047 ,” he said while speaking at the 7th India Ideas Conclave, organised by a Bharatiya Janata Party-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-inspired think tank India Foundation.

Hailing the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre for transforming India’s growth story over the last eight years, Scindia said: “In 2014, we were the 10th largest economy in the world; in the last eight years, we have grown at a cumulative level of almost 40%; that is taking into account even the Covid period… And by 2047, we will become the fourth largest economy in the world.”

“While the old era talked of an India governed only to provide and to control, we now have an India that is governed to enable and to allow the flowering of talent and entrepreneurship… This is the leap India has taken under the PM’s leadership,” he added.

The Union minister said the BJP has replaced “socialist straightjacketed” policies and “myopic ideas” with Atmanirbhar Bharat to ensure that every citizen has a role to play in the development of the nation.

With an eye on India becoming a country that contributes to 15% of the global GDP by 2047, Scindia said that India must focus on building “capability, capability and capability” and fashion the foundation of the development model on eight pillars.

He said the first pillar is the saturation of schemes. “The thrust has been on the empowerment of our resources, education, infrastructure, health care, and drinking water. Through DBT, close to about $200 billion has been transferred directly into the accounts of 950 million people… the loopholes have been plugged,” he said.

The second pillar, he said, will be to transform India into an infrastructure powerhouse.

“If you look at our main challenge, logistics as a cost of manufacturing is close to 14% of the GDP and that is the barrier that has to break. That is why the PM brought in the Gati Shakti…”

The third pillar is digitisation and technology being the new norm while the fourth is the new PLI schemes that focus on drones and technology. “There will be a transformation in our GDP position. In 2047, manufacturing will be 35% of the GDP, and services 55% and the balance 10% devoted to agriculture,” he said.

The fifth pillar will be the rise of the urban economies. “By 2047, you will see the decentralisation of growth. The emergence of multi Tier 2 and 3 cities, that will be transformed into Tier 1 cities,” he said.

Scindia further identified the demographic dividend as the sixth pillar as he termed China an “ageing economy” and India younger.

“In the next 25 years, we have to continue focusing on building capability… and if we build that capability, the time is not far when 25% of the global workforce will be Indian and close to 15% of the global GDP will be contributed by Indians,” he said, adding that there is a need to focus on skilling the younger generation and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.

Diplomacy and the 25 million people of the India diaspora spread across the world have been identified as the seventh pillar. “The PM in his outreach has formed a bridge between India and her diaspora… In the days to come, what was considered our brain drain would be considered our brain gain,” he said.

“The final pillar is our global standing… The geopolitical climate that is now incrementally favourable to India thanks to our more than robust foreign policy,” he added.

Over the last two years, India has emerged as the “pharmacy of the world”, showing the world the Indian way of globalisation — balanced, decentralised and symmetrical and pivoted on territorial integrity, he said.

“If democracy today is prospering around the world, some level of that credit also comes to India,” he said. And based on the values of unity in diversity, India will no longer be defined by the others, but be a “responsible partner, guiding light and leader,” he said.