The country can become an upper-middle-income nation by 2047 if it is able to maintain a sustained economic growth rate of 7 per cent to 7.5 per cent for the next 25 years, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) chairman Bibek Debroy said on Tuesday.

While releasing “The Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100”, Debroy noted that productivity is a major driver of sustained prosperity. “The country can become a $20 trillion economy by 2047 at this growth rate of 7 to 7.5 per cent….if you look at conservative real rates of growth, we can touch a per capita income of about $10,000,” he said.

According to the World Bank, countries with a gross national income (or GNI) per capita greater than $13,205 is termed as high income; between $13,205 and $4,256 is upper-middle income; between $4,255 and $1,086 is lower-middle income, and less than $1,086 is low income. At present, with a GDP of $2.7 trillion, India is the sixth largest economy after the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

“With this calculation, India will be in the upper middle-income category, not a higher-income category,” Debroy said, adding that it also means that the nature of Indian society will be completely transformed.