India has the potential to become a multi-trillion dollar economy with a per capita income of about $40,000 by 2050 if it manages to grow at seven per cent annually, for the next 30-35 years, according to media reports quoting a World Bank official. “If we can manage to grow at seven per cent for the next 35 years, we will be the second largest economy,” World Bank executive director for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka Subhash Chandra Garg said while addressing the Indian-American community at the Indian consulate in New York. He acknowledged that achieving and sustaining a seven per cent growth rate for 35 years is “very difficult” and “would require a lot of transformation in the way we manage our economy. Garg underlined that India will have to transform its agriculture completely, grow its services and manufacturing sectors, and give a boost to health care and tourism. He acknowledged that the Indian government’s push on manufacturing through its Make in India initiative is required to boost the sector in the country and contribute to economic growth. “We will need to produce for us and manufacturing will be a story which requires another transformation,” he said adding that a much bigger concentration and necessity will be to boost the services sector. About 55 per cent of India’s population is already working in the services sector but the country has to aim to bring this to 80-85 per cent of the population, he said.
