'India Can Add 20% To Global Growth This Year': WEF Chief To NDTV At Davos

India will likely become the fastest growing of the large economies this year to such an extent that it would make up for 20 per cent of all global growth, World Economic Forum (WEF) president Borge Brende told NDTV at Davos.

Brende said it would be even better if US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi can sign a trade agreement on top of this growth.

"I still think this year it [India] will be the fastest growing of the large economies. And we have numbers now showing that India can maybe make up for 20 per cent of all the global growth. So then India is not only growing for India, but that growth is also contributing to everyone on our planet because that growth is so substantial," the WEF chief said.

"I do hope on top of this that we can get a trade agreement between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump. That will be helpful."

The reason behind this forecast, he said, is the evidence available in the form of acceleration of economic reforms in India, which is important for growth.

"The Modi government made some concrete reforms that I did expect, but not so fast and so forcefully. That's why I am also more bullish on the Indian economy," Brende said.

Shadow Of Greenland Over Davos

With world leaders including Trump coming to Davos, would it be possible for them to agree on finding a path to peace amid the massive shifts happening in geopolitics, from Venezuela to Ukraine, and possibly Greenland?

"We do hope that there will be progress. But before this latest incident, we were planning constructive talks on how to end the almost four years war now in Ukraine. We also were looking forward to the launch of the second phase of the reconstruction of Gaza.

"And now this [Greenland] will come on top of it with the tariffs. We also know that Iran is still there on many minds because of what has been unfolding. We know that Yemen is also there. We know that Latin America is a hotter topic than it has been in the last few years.

"So this Davos with all the 65 heads of states and government, maybe six out of seven G7 leaders will be very interesting. You know, interesting times, maybe too interesting times," the WEF president told NDTV.

Brende said he hopes Trump and the European leaders will sit together and work it out.

"The World Economic Forum is not a political organisation, we are an impartial organisation, but our platform is available and we do hope that they will make progress and they can start to move the world forward together," he said.

AI And The World

The rise of artificial intelligence is all too familiar these days. The WEF chief said it can be seen as "glass half full or half empty."

"I'm hopeful that in the coming decades, new technologies will drive growth. Trade used to be the driving force, but now it's new technologies," he said, alluding to glass half full.

AI can also accelerate processes in research and development, he said, adding research in medicine that could have taken 25 years can now be done in maybe five years.

"But then, of course, you can use it for bad purposes. And that is the challenge... You can even see AI now in autonomous weapons. And this is also a scary picture. The world has never been an easy place. And it is now also a place where it's harder to get any kind of consensus on rules of the game and traffic rules," Brende said.

According to the WEF's 'Global Risks Report 2026', geoeconomic confrontation is now the top near-term risk, overtaking armed conflict and environmental threats. Around 50 per cent of respondents expect a turbulent global environment during 2026-28.

The 56th edition of WEF in Davos-Klosters brings together nearly 3,000 leaders from over 130 countries.