India needs decade of 8% expansion to hit development goal
India's economy faces mounting pressure to speed up expansion, with policymakers setting an ambitious target. Preliminary estimates suggest that the country needs to grow by around 8% annually for the next decade. Geopolitical uncertainty only adds to the urgency, pushing authorities toward aggressive growth strategies.
According to India's finance ministry, growth will be driven by domestic demand and investment. This aligns with the government's broader goal of transforming India into a developed economy by 2047. Economists argue that achieving this goal requires sustained annual growth of 8% to 9%.
Official forecasts estimate GDP growth to be between 6.3% and 6.8% for the current fiscal year, which is broadly in line with last year's 6.5% expansion. However, this is significantly lower than the 9.2% growth achieved in 2023-2024.
The finance ministry presented these figures in its June report to a parliamentary committee. "Ideally, the Indian economy will need to grow by around 8% in real terms every year, at least for a decade," the ministry noted.