Devendra Fadnavis: Decisive leadership required to make India USD 5 trillion economy

There needs to be a decisive leadership in India to achieve its target of USD 5 trillion economy. This was said by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday.

While speaking at the India Economic Conclave, CM Devendra Fadnavis asserted that a leadership with policy paralysis cannot achieve growth despite any amount of demographic advantage.

Fadnavis said, “Today we have become the sixth largest and fastest growing economy in the world and considering the strategic and cultural reforms we have undertaken in the last four years I believe we will be able to achieve the USD 5 trillion target.”

Fadnavis further stated that India has opportunities in the form of demographic dividend, democracy and demand and thus it is time to aspire and take systemic efforts to achieve the target.

“A leadership with policy paralysis cannot achieve growth despite any amount of demographic advantage. Today, we have a decisive leadership under PM Modi… The biggest advantage of India is the brightest minds, the demography and the decisive leadership that will make us leapfrog,” the Maharashtra CM noted.

“Given that we are over a USD 2.5 trillion economy growing at about 7.5 percent, with business usual we will be a USD 5 trillion economy by 2028-2029,” he added. CM Fadnavis also pointed out that to achieve the target by 2025, the agriculture sector needs to grow at 10 percent, manufacturing needs to grow at nearly 14 percent and the services sector at 13 percent.

On the occasion, he also expressed concern over the protectionist tendencies that are on a rise among nations who previously championed free trade. Besides, the trade war between US and China is also an issue due to our high dependence on oil and the volatility in oil prices, he said, adding that climate change was a huge factor making the agri-sector unsustainable.

“Despite all these, if we work sustainably and strategically I think the USD 5 trillion target is achievable,” the CM concluded.

It is to be noted that Maharashtra contributes to 15-16 percent of the national GDP.

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