NDTV World Summit: Global Value Chains Key For India To Achieve 2047 Goals, Says Amitabh Kant
The opportunity exists for India as 'global supply chains across the world are badly disrupted', the former NITI Aayog CEO says.
Becoming a key part of global value chains is significant for India to achieve the goal of becoming a developed country by 2047, according to Amitabh Kant, India's G20 Sherpa.
To become a Viksit Bharat, India needs to grow its economy from nearly $4 trillion at present to $30 trillion by 2047, the former chief executive officer of NITI Aayog said. "For this, the GDP should grow nine times, per-capita income should grow eight times and manufacturing should grow 16 times."
That is a challenge and to overcome that, India needs to become a key part of the global value chain. The opportunity exists for India as "global supply chains across the world are badly disrupted", according to Kant.
His remarks come around three months after a NITI Aayog report acknowledged that India's participation in global value chains had risen over time. However, it noted that the country's integration into such value chains "remains relatively modest" as compared to countries like China, Germany and South Korea.
Focus On Manufacturing
India needs to focus on manufacturing to accelerate the pace of growth, Kant said. "India can't grow only on the back of services. We need to become a manufacturing nation."
At present, the manufacturing sector contributes 17.5% of India's gross domestic product. This needs to be scaled to 25%. To boost manufacturing, the country needs to focus on new skills and technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing, according to Kant.
The focus should also be on programmes like the National Green Hydrogen Mission, he said. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants us to become the biggest exporter of green hydrogen."
Along with manufacturing, India also needs to look at urbanisation, he said. "Around 500 million people will get into urbanisation in next five decades. This means that we need to make two Americas in the next five decades."
The advantage for India, Kant pointed out, is that the country has a strong demographic advantage. Around 65% of Indians are aged under 35.
"Population is ageing in Europe, US, but that's not the case with India," he said, adding that a similar demographic edge is also held by other countries in the Global South, including African and Latin American nations.
AI Inevitable
The adoption of artificial intelligence is "inevitable". On being asked whether it will impact jobs, he said: "AI will create new kind of jobs. It will create the need for data scientists, machine learning experts."
"And, therefore, we need to create many more skilled people in these areas," the former NITI Aayog CEO added.
Kant said that AI should be used to improve the life of individuals by raising the standard of healthcare and nutritional quality. "AI should not be used to only create large language models," he added.
The responsible use of AI, along with machine learning, is one of the main factors to watch out globally, he pointed out.
Along with AI, the semiconductor technology will also remain crucial for the growth prospects of all major economies.
"For a country to be totally dependent on chip imports from abroad will be dangerous in the future. That's why India needs to build its own chip ecosystem," Kant said, as he lauded the government for launching the Rs 76,000-crore semiconductor mission to boost the domestic manufacturing of chips.
