The economic reforms unleashed by the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre will bear fruit eventually, taking the size of the country’s economy to $5 trillion over the next eight to nine years, according to commerce minister Suresh Prabhu.
Speaking at India Digital Summit organised by Internet and Mobile Association of India Prabhu said, “Sixty per cent of the $5-trillion will come from services. This will include various services which are not being even thought of at present, like home care services.” The minister said that $3 trillion from services may be an understatement, as the potential is much higher. He mentioned that there are empirical evidences to back these projections.
Prabhu’s views were backed by Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, who said with 99% Aadhaar penetration and bank accounts opened under Jan Dhan Yojana, the scope was immense for the fintech sector.
“As far as the start-up community goes, the Make in India initiative had brought in a paradigm change in the financial ecosystem. While we have 4,000 start-ups, it will go up to 12,000 by 2020,” Kant said. He added that about 600 start-ups were there in the fintech sector, which would become a $14-billion opportunity by 2020.
The minister added that $1 trillion, 20% of the turnover of $5 trillion, will come from the manufacturing sector.
“We are preparing a detailed plan. Experts are preparing the roadmap to promote manufacturing in all sectors. If manufacturing alone is digitized, it will create a huge opportunity for technology firms,” Prabhu added.
The minister noted that he is already working on a strategy for international trade, which will contribute $2 trillion to the economy where contribution can come from both manufacturing and services.
Telecom sector to stabilise in next 2 quarters
Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said that the telecom sector, which is going through a consolidation phase, would stabilise over the next two quarters. Speaking at the India Digital Summit, she said, “The market is moving towards four players (Bharti Airtel, Jio, Vodafone-Idea and BSNL) and how the consolidation would it impact consumers is a matter of concern.”
Sundararajan also said that the new National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2018 draft will be ready by February 15. The NTP prepared for duration of five years is expected to bring big changes in the sector.
Source: New Indian Express
