- India can become developed by 2047 if it maintains a 6 per cent growth rate, said top economist Martin Wolf
- A growth rate of 8 per cent would make India’s development easier and more certain, he said
- Key factors include skilling youth, expanding education, and increasing women’s workforce participation
The goal of making India a developed country by 2047, is "plausible" if the economy stays to the current growth rate of 6 per cent, economist Martin Wolf told NDTV in an exclusive interview today. If the growth rate goes slightly higher, the climb might be easier, he said. "I have always felt India could grow at 8 per cent a year. And if that happened, you would definitely become developed".
But even with maintaining the current growth rate - which would involve pushing skilling of young workers, expanding education and increasing participation of women in the work force -- it is an achievable goal, said the chief economics commentator for Financial Times, London, who received the Commander of the British Empire award in 2000 "for services to financial journalism".
But there is a caveat. During his ongoing visit in Delhi, Mr Wolf said staying on an even course might not push India into a textbook definition of "developed" but it would still be very well off and "sophisticated".
The definition of a "developed country", he said, varies. "In my definitions, that wouldn't really make India a developed nation. But that's a matter of division," he added.
But it would still be "an upper-middle-income country... a considerably bigger economy and more sophisticated than today. So does it matter, it wouldn't be precisely a developed country as I define it?" he added.
"I expect it to be very clearly the third-largest economy in the world and a great power. That should happen, simply the combination of numbers with growth continuing at about the average, which is very much consistent of 6 per cent a year or so, which India has had over the last three decades," Mr Wolf said.
