India is on track to become a $10 trillion economy in coming years and grab the third-largest slot soon, World Economic Forum President Borge Brende said as he described the country as a place with optimism not seen elsewhere in a very fragmented and polarised world.
In an exclusive video interview with PTI, Brende also said that the World Economic Forum (WEF) hopes to come back to the country with the WEF India Summit in collaboration with Government of India when the time is ripe.
“The Indian economy is the fastest growing among all large economies of the world. We saw in Davos this year that there was a huge interest in India and I think this will only continue,” Brende said.
Geneva-based WEF, which describes itself as an international organisation for public-private cooperation, holds its annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort town Davos every year in January.
Brende said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “always very, very welcome to Davos”. “When you come to India, you feel some optimism which is not the case all over the world. We are facing a geopolitical recession, a very fragmented and polarised world, but still there are areas where we can collaborate and it is important to find those areas,” he said.
Brende said it is necessary to underline that the economic growth is not so bad, especially in the case of India where “we are seeing 7 per cent economic growth and the world’s largest economy, the US, which is also doing very well.”
On India targeting to become the third largest economy in the next 2-3 years, Brende said India is on track to be- come a $10 trillion economy in the coming years. “India has gone through important reforms and it is well placed vis-a-vis the two largest economies, the US and China. Also, India is seeing a good increase in foreign direct investments, a lot of manufacturing activities are now taking place in India which used to happen in other emerging economies,” he said.
He also lauded India’s digital competitiveness and said digital trade is growing much faster than traditional goods in the world today. “India is well placed and it is just a question of time before India becomes the third largest economy in the world after the US and China,” he said.
On India’s role in handling geopolitical conflicts, Brende said, “We will see a larger and larger Indian footprint on the global diplomatic scene in the years to come.”
India’s major priority so far has been to secure economic growth, eradicate poverty, and ensure that India is flourishing when it comes to prosperity.
“I think India has also stayed away from any knee-jerk reactions on geopolitical issues. It’s not an easy neighbourhood in Asia but India has dealt with situations very well and we do not see any conflicts in this region as we have seen in places like Ukraine and the Middle East,” he added.
Brende said India is an important country when it comes to digitalisation with 1.4 billion people with digital IDs, linked bank accounts and effective payment systems.
“At the same time, the advent of new technologies raises concerns. While there are big opportunities presented by generative AI, there are also threats in the form of deepfakes and increased cyber attacks. So, it is very necessary to be vigilant and also have policies for that,” he said.
For example, cybercrime last year stole $2 trillion from the global economy, he said.
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