India to become 5-trillion-dollar economy in seven years: Prabhu

Mumbai, Sep 6 (IANS) With phenomenal changes in social and economic sector reforms, India will become a five-trillion-dollar economy in seven years from the present 2.6 trillion dollars, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu said here on Thursday.

He said that the GDP growth of 8.3 per cent in the last quarter will be consolidated and continue going forward and India would certainly become a 10-trillion-dollar economy by 2035.

Speaking on 'India Ideas Summit' at the US-India Business Council (USIBC), Prabhu said that for this, the government has prepared a multi-sectoral strategy besides the reforms and improving the ease of doing business.

"A new industrial policy is on the anvil with dual focus on modernizing existing businesses and getting new and futuristic businesses into the economy, for which 12 champion service sectors have been identified for systematic promotion," the Minister said.

Expressing hope that the Make In India initiative will become an even bigger success in the future, Prabhu said: "Start-ups are the best laboratory for change and innovation. We already have around 20,000 start-ups registered with DIPP and are promoting in a major way across the country."

On the agriculture and horticulture growth, Prabhu said the government aims to double the income of farmers by 2022, while the country notched the highest export growth in the past six years in fiscal 2017-2018.

Over the next 10 years, Prabhu said that transactions worth more than 100 billion dollars are targeted on GeM, the National Procurement Portal, which was launched yesterday to educate and bring on-board more buyers-sellers besides promoting cashless and digital transactions.

He said a 'holistic strategy' is being developed to tap into the potential of the Indian logistics sector to forge better linkages between the manufacturing sector and the global supply chains.

"We are also seeing a huge growth in the aviation sector, India is the fastest-growing aviation market in the world," Prabhu said, outlining a plan to boost and promote the aviation sector.

Prabhu gave away awards to the winners of Women's Start-up Awards in the presence of USIBC President Nisha Biswal, USIBC Board Member Carlos Gutierre and various industry representatives.