India can grow consistently at 8% for next 20 years on current investment strategy: Vaishnaw

New Delhi

Indian economy can grow consistently at 8% for the next 20 years leading to the generation of up to 1.5 crore new jobs and bringing out 3.5 crore people out of the poverty every year on the basis of the capital investment strategy of the government, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday.

Addressing the annual general meeting of Assocham, he said that the government had set a target of increasing the capital investment level in the budget from 27% of the GDP to 35% of the GDP over the next few years.

“We follow the strategy of capital investment for 5-6 years more, we can grow at 8% consistently for the next 20 years. 8 growth in the next 20 years means, every year close to 1-1.5 crore new employment, 30-35 million people coming out of poverty. That’s the change we can bring in our society by that thought process,” Mr. Vaishnaw said.

The Minister said that India had been a consumption-led economy in the past and the Prime Minister had taken a “path of faith” to increase capital investment despite reluctance from several economists.

“Many of the European countries followed the prescription of the noble laureates and they are in a very bad situation. We decided to choose the path which had three elements – public investment, very focussed consumption and reforms, and incentives for private industries,” Mr. Vaishnaw said.

He said Germany, the U.S., Japan, China and South Korea had followed the same path of capital investments for several years.

The Minister said the country’s nominal GDP at the end of the financial year 2021 was ₹198 trillion and the target was to reach ₹225 trillion.