The Indian economy has the potential to grow eightfold between now and 2050 and achieve an 8 per cent annual growth rate, former US treasury secretary Larry Summers said on Saturday.
However, the growth hinges on reforms in states, addressing energy-related infrastructure needs, and more effective public sector performance.
“I think this is a reasonable thing to say that a stretched target, an ambitious goal, a possible aspiration for India is an eight-fold growth between now and the end of the half-century. An 8 per cent a year, which isn’t my forecast on current policy, but given India’s potential even in the more challenging world economy,
I believe that is an imaginable goal,” he said while delivering a lecture organised by
the finance ministry and the Confederation of Indian Industry.
India’s GDP grew 7.2 per cent in FY23 and is expected to grow 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal year, according to the Reserve Bank of India.
Summers raised doubts over higher interest rates for a longer period of time acting as a major barrier to growth. “If monetary policies were pursued and they failed to contain inflation, then you would be setting the stage for much higher interest rates and a much more serious recession down the road,” he cautioned.
FM meet
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday met the G20 Independent Expert Group on strengthening of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). The group Lawrence Summers and ex-chairman of the 15th Finance Commission N K Singh.
