In the early 2005, Goldman Sachs study predicted that by the year 2050, India will be the 4th largest economy with a GDP of $27,803 billion after China ($ 4,453 billion), EU ($35,288 billion) and the US ($35,165) billion. The current order of merit is the US leading with $13,271 billion, followed by the EU ($12, 965 billion), Japan ($4,601 billion) and China ($2,998 billion). India presently is the 7th with a not so appealing $929 billion GDP. Even at 2050, India appears to be a minor player holding just under 20% among the top four.
Is a fourth place enough? How will India reach the top among the comity of nations? How will we be the wealthiest nation like we were in the first millennium? A good old saying is that "If we do what we have always done, we will get what we have always gotten." That is true for a nation on its path to the top. How can we think differently? How can we outsmart the current favourites?
How can we outthink China that has chosen manufacturing as its path? How can we outthink the US and the EU that have several years of first mover advantage? Is it enough that we are recognised as a power with some reckoning in the IT sector or should it be all pervasive? How can we ensure that domestic markets are better services across geography and diverse people? Do we have to master and exploit our domestic markets before we cross borders or can we simultaneously target multiple global markets? Is it appropriate to have a skewed development on our rush to the top or should it be inclusive? Can we be the best with the current climate of nurturing entrepreneurship?
None believes that this lofty goal can be achieved overnight. Perhaps we require a stage by stage plan of looking at the next forty years in terms modules of distinct time frames with each time frame having distinct sub-goals. What are those intermittent steps / goals and what innovations will power both the short and long term objectives?
In the fifth edition of LIBA Insight symposium, we have chosen to deliberate on how Innovation across a set of vital sectors is the only runway to India’s journey to the top.
