India poised to become third largest economy: Montek

Hyderabad, Apr 7 (UNI) India is poised to become the third largest economy after US and China by 2035 in the rapidly globalised economy, Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said today.

Making a transition to rapid strides, the country had registered 8.4 per cent growth in the last four years and set to increase 9-10 per cent during the 11th plan period, he said while delivering the sixth convocation address at the prestigious Indian School of Business here.

The rapid growth of the Indian economy was the result of successful policies initiated in the mid 1980's and accelerated in the 1990's, Dr Ahluwalia, former Director of the Independent Evaluation office at the International Monetary Fund, pointed out.

The Planning Commission was focussing on a policy environment to facilitate faster and inclusive growth at least in a reasonable measure during the 11th plan, he said, pointing out that high income in some parts of the economy would not suffice. The benefits of growth should percolate to poorer sections too, he added.

Identifying lack of quality infrastructure as the single biggest obstacle for rapid growth, he said the Union Government would focus on development of infrastructure in partnership with the private sector during the 11th plan period.

Priority would be accorded to health and education in the 11th plan, he said, adding though there were some outstanding success stories, the average standard of education in Indian universities was par below the mark and this needed to be changed for the country to compete in a highly competitive Knowledge society.

Going down the memory lane, he said, ''when I graduated in 1963, the country registered just two per cent growth. Now the country will grow more than four times faster than when I graduated.'' Pointing out that growth in agriculture sector had decelerated from 3.6 per cent during 1980-1996 to two per cent till 2003-04, he said the Centre intended to double the agriculutre growth rate to four per cent during the 11th plan.

Stressing the need for more non-farm activity in the rural areas to reduce the urban-rural divide in GDP growth, he said policies had to be oriented to connect the rural people with more urban activities without actually migrating to urban areas by promoting growth of more semi-urban towns.

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