India has to find ways to take its current GDP from 7 per cent to 10 per cent within the next three years to take advantage of the renewed global interest in the country as a prime business destination, according to business leaders.
This was the consensus at a seminar here yesterday titled 'Doing Business with India: An Industry Perspective', which kicked off an India Business Week series of events hosted by the Indian Consulate General and the Gordon Institute of Business Science.
President and managing director of Emerson Network Power Sunil Khanna said India had emerged as the fourth largest economy globally with a high growth rate and has also improved its global ranking.
India achieved a growth of 6.2 per cent between 1980 and 2010 while the world as a whole registered a growth rate of 3.3 per cent in the same period, Khanna, who represented Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said.
"As a result, India's share in global GDP, measured in terms of constant 2005 PPP international dollars, more than doubled from 2.5 per cent in 1980 to 5.5 per cent in 2010," Khanna said.
"India needs to find ways to take its current GDP of 7 per cent to 10 per cent within the next three years if it is to take advantage of the renewed global interest in the country, including projections of it having the biggest growth in 2016," he said.
Concerns cited by Khanna included the need to grow Indian exports further amid the growing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and finding ways of reducing imports from China.
"We instituted India Business Week to highlight the Make in India programme, which offer investors around the globe the best of business and political support as well as ease of doing business in India for foreign direct investors," said Indian Consul-General Randhir Jaiswal as he introduced a delegation of Indian CEO's from the CII to interact with business leaders from South Africa.
Noting that the Indian government has revived the "feel-good factor" in the economy, Khanna said India's share still remains minuscule and it rank 19th in the global order of exporting countries.
This could be turned around because of several advantages that India had over its competitors such as China and Europe, with its ageing population, he said.
"The average age in India will be 29 by 2020, giving the country a huge workforce. There is a growing middle class and huge savings and investments," Khanna added.
Khanna said these were some of the factors which could assist in achieving the projection by the IMF that India would be the fastest-growing country next year, with its growth of 7.5 per cent ahead of China's 6.3 per cent being almost double the global figure of 3.6 per cent.
