Viksit Bharat Needs 7.8% Growth: WB

New Delhi: India will need to accelerate reforms to achieve an average annual growth rate of 7.8 per cent for becoming a high-income economy by 2047, a World Bank report said on Friday. To achieve this goal India would require reforms in financial sector as well as in land and labour market, the World Bank said in its India Country Memorandum titled ‘Becoming a High-Income Economy in a generation’.

Recognizing India’s fast pace of growth averaging 6.3 per cent between 2000 and 2024, the report notes that India’s past achievements provide the foundation for its future ambitions. “However, reaching the ambitious target of becoming a high-income economy by 2047 will not be possible in a business-as-usual scenario... for India to become a high-income economy by 2047, its GNI (gross national income) per capita would have to increase by nearly 8 times over the current levels; growth would have to accelerate further and to remain high over the next two decades, a feat that few countries have achieved.

“To meet this target, given the less conducive external environment, India would need to not only maintain ongoing initiatives but in fact expand and intensify reforms,” the World Bank report said.