A new agenda for great power status

India needs to recalibrate its economic approach, focusing on trade, manufacturing, and the informal economy

The installation of a newly elected government is an opportunity to review the country’s economic strategies. The annual Budget will soon be presented in Parliament. This should set forth an economic strategy that underpins the achievement of Viksit Bharat (Developed India) status by 2047, the 100th year of India’s Independence.

There are certain boundary conditions that must underlie this strategy. India cannot replicate China’s growth trajectory. China opted for a resource- and energy-intensive pattern of growth, essentially following the model of industrialisation of the developed world. As an economy similar in scale to China, India cannot emulate