India took 60 yrs to become $ 1 Trn economy; can reach next trillion in next 2 yrs : WEF Chief

NEW DELHI: India took 60 years to become a trillion-dollar economy butitmayreachthenexttrillioninthe next two years, President of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brende hassaid.

The goal of reaching a trilliondollar economy has ridden on the back of India’s digitisation, which is a success story for the world, Borge added. He was speaking at a CIIsessioninNewDelhionMay25.

“The budget for digital infra increased by 25 percent from 2022 to 2023. This is on top of the increase in digital budget allocations over the pastseveralyears,”Borgesaid.

This digitisation has led to the creationof77,000startupsandseveral global unicorns, Borge said, adding, it was the Indians who earlier ran SiliconValleyandnowwehaveIndian startupsinitsplacerulingtheworld.

Borge however cautioned that onlyhavinganopenpredictablepolicy for investments, away from red tape will help the country maintain the growthmomentum.

India was 1/23rd in data consumptionin2016buthasnowleapt to the first position,” Amitabh Kant, G20Sherpasaid.

Talking about India being the fastest-growing economy in the world, Kant added that it is in the last seven years that India built 40 million houses. “We have made 110 million toilets. We have made 230 million pipe-to-water connections. During covid we made 2.5 billion covidvaccines,”hesaid.

“India did in 7 years, what it would have required 50 years to do,” headded.

“If you look around the world, there are 133 countries which don’t have even a fast payment system,” Kant said. It is the digital transformation that has fuelled growthinIndia,hepointedout.

Digital transformation is India’s priority at G20 as well, “We do 46 percent of real-time payments of the world but need to make this more,”Kantsaid.

“G20 is also prioritising growth in the global economy, working on achieving sustainable goals and bringing women to the forefront of thisgrowth“,Kantsaid.

India recognises its responsibility for action against climate change, he said. “India has not contributed to carbonising the world, but we must be first to do our part in de-carbonisingit.”