India likely to be largest economy by 2050: Blake

Kolkata, Jun 17: US Assistant Secretary of State (Bureau of South and central Asian affairs) Robert O Blake today (June 17) said the future of Indian economy seems very bright and the country is likely to become the world's third largest economy by 2030, and the largest by 2050.

He added, "The incredible growth of India's economy has resulted in positive spillover effect for the US between 2002-2009, US goods exports to India quadrupled, growing from USD 4.1 billion to more than USD 16.4 billion in 2009."

"US services exports to India more than tripled from USD 3.2 billion to USD 9.9 billion during the period," he said.

Last year, US-India trade in goods broke a record with US exports increasing by 17 per cent and US imports from India rising by 40 per cent, he said during a seminar on ''West Bengal and Beyond: US-India business links and prospects'' here.

"This surge of nearly 30 per cent to a high of USD 48.8 billion in goods trade moved India up two notches to become our 12th largest goods trading partner. This positive trend continues, with two-way trade up 19 per cent in the first quarter of 2011, over the same period last year," he said.

Blake said US trade with India was very much a two-way exchange with mutual benefits to both the countries.

"Robust two-way trade means citizens from Kolkata to Kansas will see the benefits of our trade agreement," he added.

PTI