Addressing a symposium by the Indian Foundation for Quality Management (IFQM), Vaishnaw who is also the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, and Electronics & IT, said for India to become a developed nation by 2047, the target for measurable parameters is “$ 18,000 per capita income and $ 30 trillion nominal GDP”.
“Today, we are just shy of $ 4 trillion nominal (GDP), just shy of about $ 3,000 nominal per capita. It means we have a path where we need to grow about ‘6x’ ‘7x’ in the next 25 years,” Vaishnaw said, adding a key element of this development also involves having “a very inclusive and harmonious society”.
Vaishnaw said to ensure strong and consistent growth, the economy needs “a very strong foundation, a very carefully thought through strategy, meticulous execution, and laying the process of development, which is beyond the cycle of elections.”
The intent of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, is to build further on the foundation laid in the past ten years. “What we are going to do in these five years of Prime Minister Modi, his third term, will be beyond the cycle of elections, will be beyond the cycle of business cycles,” Vaishnaw informed.
Vaishnaw asserted such development will be beyond “people who can, who have a lot of destructive mindsets. It’s beyond the capability of such destructive mindsets. That’s the thought process.” While one of the key element of India becoming a developed nation is having an inclusive and harmonious society, the minister said the second big element is to have social, physical and digital infra in place. The third aspect is meeting the measurable parameters of per capita income and GDP to meet the set targets, he informed.Vaishnaw said there are many examples of the measures being undertaken to achieve these objectives. “We have seen the rapid rollout of 5g digital infrastructure. We have seen the creation of UPI, the creation of digital credit, the creation of platforms like National Health, and the logistics platform. These are all platforms that have taken technology to the last mile. That’s digital infrastructure. Physical (infra), multiple examples are there. Almost 58,000-54,000 kilometres of road length added in the last 10 years, 31,000 kilometres of railway tracks added in the last 10 years.”