BJP's Jayant Sinha and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi shared their perspective on India's journey towards a monumental $40-trillion economy by 2047 at the 2nd Business Today India@100 Summit. Speaking to Business Today Executive Director Rahul Kanwal, Sinha talked about government policies, increased foreign investment, and other factors that make India the best-placed economy in the world
Jayant Sinha said that India is the best-positioned economy on the planet right now and it can be confidently said that “we are the shining star of the global economy.” Countering the claims made by the former union minister, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said, "We are a lower middle-income country. We are ranked at 132 out of 191 nations in the Human Development Index. We need to overcome this to become a developed nation by 2047."
Abhishek Singhvi claimed that India is still behind Bangladesh and even Rwanda in the Hunger Index. "We need to overcome these obstacles to become a developed nation," he added. Meanwhile, Jayant Sinha, while speaking about the growing Indian economy, said that by demonetisation and GST, his government had formalised the economy, and the country was enjoying the benefits of UPI. "The world is praising our digital infrastructure," he added
Talking about the government policies regarding trade at the BTIndia@100 Summit, Jayant Sinha said that through the very progressive PLI scheme, they are driving growth in manufacturing. "We will make sure that we have a rock-solid, well-functioning constitutional democracy,” he added
Abhishek Singhvi said that India's share of world manufacturing is 3% compared to China's 28%. While we've excelled in the services sector, manufacturing prowess remains an area where we need growth," he added. The third-time sitting MP and member of Congress' top decision-making body CWC, shared also his insights on India's vision to evolve into a $40-trillion economy by 2047
Jayant Sinha concluded the session titled 'India's Economic Destiny' with an emphasis on India's steadfast commitment to a robust constitutional democracy. "We will ensure a solid and well-functioning constitutional democracy," Sinha said
Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram, during a conversation with Business Today Executive Director, Rahul Kanwal in the session 'An Alternative View of India@100', shared his views about PM Narendra Modi's vision to make India the world's third-largest economy. He said, “India becoming the third-largest economy is irrelevant. I will be proud when India becomes the third-largest economy in per capita terms not in the size of the GDP."
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram drew a comparison between the economic growth under the UPA-led govt and the NDA-led govt. He said, “Now what is the 9-year growth average, 5.7%, it is a mirror image of 7.5%.” He further shared his opinions about the handling of COVID-19 pandemic as he said, "Pandemic was indeed a black swan event, it slowed down but it could have handled better and we might have not suffered plummeting negative growth"
Elaborating on the handling of COVID-19 pandemic, P Chidambaram said, "One the vaccinations could have been ordered earlier, vaccine producers could have been paid money earlier and all those internal migrants, est. 3 crore were left to fend off themselves and the preparedness of hospitals and oxygen could have been better."