While India becoming the
fifth largest economy in the world is an 'impressive achievement,' there is a
need to grow fast to increase the per capita income of the country from the
present levels, former Reserve Bank of India Governor C Rangarajan said on
Saturday.
In his address at the
13th Convocation of the ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Rangarajan said
post Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war, there is a need to lay down a clear
roadmap for India's future development and the first and foremost task is to
raise the growth rate.
Noting that India was
today the fifth largest economy, he said, "this is an impressive achievement."
"However, in
relation to per capita income, it is a different story. In 2020, India's rank
with respect to per capita income was 142 out of 197 countries. This only shows
the distance we have to travel
All the same, we have no
choice but to grow fast, given the present level of per capita income,"
the former chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council said.
According to
calculations, he said, if the country achieves a seven per cent rate of growth
continuously over the next two decades and more, it will make a substantial
change to the level of the economy and India may almost touch the status of a
developed economy.
India needs to absorb the
new technologies that have emerged and that will emerge and skilled manpower
which is consistent with this development though the new technologies may lower
the employment elasticity with respect to output, he stressed.
"Employment must
come out of increased growth. Employment enhancement without growth is not
sustainable. That is why we must aim at least at a sustained growth of 7 per
cent," Rangarajan pointed out.
The former RBI Governor
underscored that the development strategy must be multidimensional and the
country needs strong export as well as manufacturing sectors.
Growth without equity is
not sustainable, he opined.
M Jagadesh Kumar,
Chairman of University Grants Commission was the chief guest of the
convocation.
www.business-standard.com
dt. 18.09.2023