India surpassed UK’s economy, will be in top three economies in next 10-15 yrs,: Finance Minsiter

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated on Friday that India has become one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world and is anticipated to rank among the top three economies internationally over the next 10 to 15 years, indicating a country with robust growth.

She also mentioned the difficult prognosis for the world economy while addressing at the US-India Businesses and Investment Opportunities, claiming that India is not immune to the effects of these developments. With the aid of the above-average south-west monsoon, public investment, strong corporate balance sheets, upbeat consumer and business confidence, and the dissipating threat of the Covid pandemic, India continued to pursue the path of growth despite the world’s challenges.

“India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world. It has recently surpassed the UK to become the fifth-largest economy in the world and is expected to be one of the top three economic powers globally over the next 10-15 years,” she said.

Later, Nirmala Sitharaman added PM GatiShakti and Production Linked Incentives to her list of essential government programmes that have contributed significantly to the expansion of the economy.

“We recognise foreign capital flows as a vital component of India’s growth story. Key reforms include simplification and rationalisation of the Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) regulations, increase in aggregate foreign investment limit, the introduction of Common Application Form (CAF) for registration of FPIs, and the opening of new channels of debt investments like the Voluntary Retention Route (VRR) and Fully Accessible Route (FAR),” she said.

She referred to the regular investment flows that enter India via the FPI channel as evidence of the effectiveness of these policies. The leading source country for FPI investment in India is the USA, according to the finance minister, who was speaking about the country’s contribution to FPI investment in India. On September 30th of this year, it has USD 234 billion in Assets under Custody (AUC) for FPIs from the USA.

“Today, we have a powerful story on Digital Public Goods (DPG) to tell the world. The economy is seeing an exponential increase in new-age FinTech firms. India has the highest FinTech adoption rate as compared to the global average,” she said.

India’s growth and development during the coming ten years will be significantly influenced by the country’s expansion of its digital infrastructure. Nirmala Sitharaman further supported this point by bringing up the nation’s digital economy, which was established on the backs of more than a billion bank accounts, a billion mobile phones, and a billion digital identities created through Aadhaar.