India is the next Entrepreneurial Engine of the World

Pune, June 12, 2017: India will become the entrepreneurial engine of the world expressed Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation. He was speaking at the lecture organised by the Pune International Centre (PIC).

As part of the lecture series ‘Reinventing India’ initiated by PIC, Sinha delivered a lecture on ‘Its India’s turn now’. Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, president, PIC chaired the session. Pramod Chaudhari, president, Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) and Prashant Girbane, honorary director, PIC were present on the dais. A policy paper titled ‘Make in India, Success Stories: Lessons Learnt’ was also released during the programme.   

While elaborating his vision of the new India, Sinha emphasized on the frugal nature of India’s economic development and its young demographic. “India has a unique frugal development model that can be exemplary in the world. Also, we have 50 crore of young population which is also the largest in the world. These two factors give us an advantage to lead the world in innovation and economic development,” he said.

Sinha presented statistics about India’s growing economy. India’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP) is currently growing at 7% to 8%. If it is looked at in the context of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) India’s economy is worth 9.5 trillion dollars. In the next decade, it will contribute 11 trillion dollars to the world economy. According to Sinha, these statistics put India on par with many leading countries in the world including United States of America (USA) and China. 

“While achieving this development rate, we are using 25% of the steel and cement of China’s total usage. We are using 78% less carbon per unit and our debt to GDP is only 135% as compared to China’s 282%. This makes India the most frugal economy in the world. We make optimum use of resources and are extremely energy efficient. This unique development model helps us stand out in the world,” explained Sinha.

He also said that the current government is bringing reforms and have left behind the feudal dynastic nature of the Nehruvian government. “We have brought in the model of minimum government and maximum governance. This model has fostered a partnership between people and government. This will lead to broader, deeper and structured reforms,” said Sinha.

Mashelkar in his remarks said that India has struck a valuable combination of aspiration and scarcity. “This combination has led to affordable and frugal innovation. Our democracy, diversity and the young demographic has given us a competitive advantage,” he concluded.