Trade: A call to action for rapid growth

For India to attain high-income status by 2047, it must urgently prioritise trade as the primary driver for achieving accelerated growth

India’s quest for faster economic growth has reached a critical stage. In contrast to our current growth momentum of 6.1 per cent (2023-28), as projected by the International Monetary Fund, the Reserve Bank of India estimates that we need to grow at over 7.6 per cent annually for the next 25 years to become a high-income country by 2047, reaching a nominal per capita income of about $22,000 at today’s dollars.

No country has achieved such a growth rate without achieving significant export growth. During its exceptional growth years, between 1980 and 2006, when China’s real gross domestic product (GDP)