Focus on emerging cities, says Nilekani

As India's journey towards its integration with the global economy picks up speed, the cities in the country will have to take the centrestage while planning the development programmes.

Cities that presently exist and those that will emerge are the major engines of economic growth and must be given a greater representation in the country's policy formation. This was according to MD and CEO of Infosys Technologies Nandan Nilekani.

The vice-chairman-designate of the $3 billion Infosys said the process of urbanisation is irreversible and the voice of the urban population, contributing significantly to the country's wealth creation, needs to be heard more seriously. Nilekani was making a presentation on 'India - FutureReady' at the Praj Industries annual lecture here on Wednesday.

Nilekani said the intellectual capabilities and the demographic dividend were underlined by a vast working population. India is poised to become a global socio-economic power in the next few years.

A large young workforce relieves the country's finances from the burden of social security and other government benefits, and we can turn our attention to the physical infrastructure development and other issues, he pointed out.

Nilekani said that the policy route taken in the early nineties have borne fruits and India is well on its way to globalisation where Indian businesses will be equipped to compete with not just local businesses but also with the international ones.

Nilekani cited technology readiness and comfort with the English language as the main factors responsible for India's push into the global outsourcing arena. Nilekani said the next step should be to consolidate the education sector which will help to develop competent professionals who will add value to India's role in global economy.

India today stands at a point where Europe or the US were 30 years ago and the model, which India adopts to leapfrog development should, however, be designed to do things differently as the resource position has changed drastically over the years, Nilekani said. India also has the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, he added.

He said energy, environment, health, social security and transparent governance are among the priorities before the country. "As hydrocarbon-driven energy is no longer affordable or safe, we will have to look for alternative sources, yet should not upset the balance of agriculture," he pointed out.

The social security and healthcare sectors should be planned in such a way that they don't become a drag on the economy when the growth picks up speed, he warned, stressing that the US typically spends 15 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare alone.

A lot is also to be done on the governance front as we will have to be more transparent and accountable when we integrate with the world, Nilekani said.

According to him, technology will be the driving force for this to happen as it has been proved in case of computerised railway reservation system, electronic banking or the online stock trading.