ABP Entrepreneurship Conclave: Speaking on the goal of making India a developed nation by 2047, Chief Economic Advisor V. Ananth Nageswaran at ABP News’ Entrepreneurship Conclave clearly said that for this, India will have to continuously work on a clear, long-term and practical strategy. He said that in the last few years, the government has made many major reforms in the direction of making ease of doing business easier. The GST system has been simplified, changes have been made in labor laws and the tax structure has been made more transparent, so that investor confidence increases and economic activities can be accelerated. He believes that the effect of these reforms will be visible gradually and it will not come in one stroke.

Why no trade deal with America yet?

On the question asked about the manufacturing sector, he said that the government’s schemes like PLI (Production Linked Incentive) are often compared with China, but the circumstances of India and China are different. China adopted a different model decades ago, whereas India is moving forward with balance in a democratic system. He said that the manufacturing sector in India has now become stable and it is creating a strong base. It is not necessary that India will have to adopt the same model as China, rather India will have to make a path according to its strengths.

On the ongoing uncertainty regarding the India-US trade deal, the Chief Economic Advisor clearly said that only the Commerce Ministry can give the final information in this regard. The common citizen can only hope. On the issue of tariff, he said that when reciprocal tariff of 25 percent was imposed for the first time, the industry was already mentally prepared for it. That means it was not completely unexpected. Global trade has become extremely complex today and every country is giving priority to its own interests.

fall in rupee

On the question asked about the decline in rupee, V. Ananth Nageswaran pointed towards an important economic fact. He said that usually when a country wants to strengthen its currency, it increases interest rates. But the situation is different in case of India. History is witness to the fact that when the conditions related to savings and current accounts change in a country, the currency comes under pressure. He indicated that the weakness of the rupee should not be viewed only from a negative perspective, but it is important to understand the broader economic context behind it.

Regarding Indian economy and employment, he said that there is no situation of jobless growth in India. As evidence of this, he said that the demand for MNREGA has decreased in the last one year, which shows that other employment opportunities have increased in rural areas. Apart from this, about 1.5 crore new jobs have been added in the formal sector in the last two years. He believes that India can further strengthen employment generation by increasing manufacturing and exports.

AI

He talked about adopting a balanced approach regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI). He said that AI is still in its initial stages and it is important to discuss both its positive and negative aspects. AI can become a challenge for employment in some areas, but there are many areas where there is no alternative to AI, like construction, plumbing, manual skills etc. He said that the government itself is taking many initiatives regarding AI, but the focus should be that technology should complement human labour, not replace it.

On Indian economy reaching close to 4 trillion dollars and comparison with China, he said that in March 2025, India’s economy was about 3.9 trillion dollars. The weakness of the rupee has affected the figures in dollar terms. The world is changing rapidly and in such a situation India will have to pay more attention to investment, research and development and structural reforms. He especially stressed the need for reforms in land and labor reforms, power generation and distribution.

In the end, he said that to achieve the goal of a developed India, economic policies alone will not be enough, but equal attention will have to be paid to the physical and skill development of the young population. Strong youth power, stable policies, continuous reforms and strategies in tune with global changes—these are the foundations on which India can become a developed nation by 2047.

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India’s GDP Growth: India, which is facing high American tariffs, will not have any negative impact on its economic growth in the current financial year. Rather, the economy will gain momentum and grow stronger. This is what Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V. Ananth Nageswaran has to say. They estimate that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) can reach 7% in the financial year 2025-26 on the basis of base year 2011-12.

India moving towards ‘A’ rating

During the India Maritime Week (IMW), Nageswaran said that recently all three major global rating agencies have made India’s credit rating outlook positive. If the country continues to move forward in the current economic direction, India may soon join the ‘A’ rating category. Academician-turned-policy advisor Nageswaran said the resilience of the Indian economy, coupled with the policies of the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is keeping it in a ‘comfortable state’.

He said that despite global uncertainties and challenges like tariffs this year, India’s economic condition remains strong. Income tax relief, reforms in GST structure and other policy steps have helped in taking the growth rate of the current financial year to about 7%.

Nageswaran had estimated in February that the GDP growth rate in the current financial year could be 6.3%. Later, it was reduced to 6% considering the US duty effect. But, they now believe that timely policy steps taken to increase demand and encourage investment have put the economy in a strong position.

Support received from RBI’s steps

Answering the questions raised on the slowdown in bank loan growth, Nageswaran said that it is important to look at the total resource mobilization in the economy. It also includes capital raised through non-bank lenders, commercial papers, certificates of deposit and equity markets. Citing RBI data, he said that there has been an annual increase of 28.5% in total resource mobilization in the last six years.

In the same program, International Financial Services Center Authority (IFSCA) Chairman K. Rajaraman said that shipping, ports and marine industry will need funding of more than $300 billion in the next few years. GIFT City can prove to be an effective platform to mobilize this.

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V anantha nageswaran on dollar: Amidst the ongoing tariff tension with America, the question arises whether India is looking for a US dollar option. Chief Economic Advisor V. Anant Nageswaran has made it clear that India is not thinking of any kind on the use of any other currency as an alternative to US dollar in global trade.

In response to a question on Wednesday, the Chief Economic Advisor said that India is not a part of any such initiative. However, at the BRICS summit held in Kazan, Russia in October last year, India and other BRICS countries considered cross -border payment disposal in local currency. Along with this, it was agreed to bring a special ‘BRICS Mudra’.

There is no alternative to dollar at the moment

Nagswaran says that there is no practical option of US dollar at this time. Its rise may take a long time. He informed that the central banks maintain their foreign exchange reserves on a diverse basis. Also, the Reserve Bank has also increased its stake in the purchase of gold in the last few years. The Chief Economic Advisor said that therefore, the structure of foreign exchange reserves including gold is constantly being given attention.

What was said at the BRICS conference?

The manifesto of the 16th BRICS Summit held in October 2024 stated that there is a need for fast, low-cost, more efficient, more efficient, transparent, safe and inclusive border payments based on the principle of reducing business obstacles and discriminating access. The manifesto also stated that the use of local currencies in financial transactions between BRICS countries and their business partners would be welcomed.

BRICS is a group of rapid emerging economies in the world, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and United Arab Emirates (UAE). Its purpose is to promote the shared view of the emerging economies on multilateral forums.

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India gdp growth rate: The country’s Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageshwaran said that despite the upheaval in the last four years, India not only kept the energy prices stable but also kept them low. He says that these low energy prices are a major basis for the strength of the country’s economic growth. He said that for this reason, during the last four-five years, the Indian economy has performed more than expected.

Why is Indian economy strong?

In an AIMA program, he said that there has been a significant structural improvement in the country. This is to maintain financial discipline and fiscal stability despite Covid epidemic and regional security challenges. However, it has not been highly appreciated.

He said that the Government of India had promised that the financial deficit would be reduced from 9.2 percent to half in five years, and the government completed it. Recently, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has also said that in the current financial year we will achieve the target of financial deficit of 4.4%.

Ahead

Nagswaran said that the biggest thing is that we keep following the path of financial stability and discipline. This keeps Macroeconomic Stability, and this gives the basic strength to increase economic activities in the coming years.

On the other hand, Fitch Ratings has increased the estimate of India’s GDP (GDP) growth for the current financial year by 6.9 percent due to a strong growth of the June quarter and domestic demand. Earlier, Fitch had estimated the Indian economy to grow at a rate of 6.5 percent.

In its September global economic scenario (GEO), the rating agency said that there has been a rapid increase in economic activities between March and June quarters of the current financial year, and the actual GDP growth rate has increased from 7.4 percent of January-March to 7.8 percent on an annual basis. This is much higher than the forecast of 6.7 percent in our June, GEO.

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