India in very sweet spot of growth: Economist Surjit Bhalla

London: All systems and events around the world are in favour of India right now and the confluence of several factors means the economy is in a very sweet spot of growth, senior economist Dr Surjit Bhalla said here on Wednesday. Addressing the India Global Forum (IGF) on the topic of 'India's Resilience Amidst Global Turmoil', the former Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, expressed confidence that India will continue on a successful growth trajectory into the next decade and beyond. "We are ideally positioned not only politically but economically and internationally,” said Bhalla.

"The confluence of these three factors have never before operated in India. We are in a very sweet spot and I'm very confident that the government will take full advantage with policies that continue the sweet spot for at least the next decade or so,” he said. Pointing specifically to the government's Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme, the economist and author said his reading of the data shows that manufacturing in the country has "improved quite radically” over the last five to seven years.

"One policy that I think needs to be changed, as it pertains to foreign investment, is that any disputes between a foreign company and an Indian company has to be resolved in Indian courts… I think it has hurt Indian enterprises as well as manufacturing and growth. So other than this policy, I think many of our policies are conducive to participating in a great leap forward,” he added.

The theme broadly chimed with the views of his fellow panellists, including Chris Rogers – Head of Supply Chain Research at S&P Global Market Intelligence, and Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale – in-charge of BJP's Foreign Aff­airs Department, both of whom pointed to the recently concluded elections in India as a key factor behind the country's promising growth trajectory amid “continuity and stability”. "We have political uncertainties in a number of the major democracies in the world, so delighted to see the elections in India go as smoothly as they did because that opens up opportunities for companies to be forward-looking in their supply chains and build competitive advantage as well,” said Rogers.

On India's Mission 2047, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Economic Advisory Council – Sanjeev Sanyal – highlighted that a continued government focus on supply-side reforms will ensure progress towards becoming a developed economy. "Why I'm very positive is because finally, the economy has reached a critical mass, where a compounding process is now going to flick in our favour in a massive way,” said Sanyal. IGF London, now in its sixth year, is a week-long series of events highlighting areas of collaboration and growth within the India-UK corridor.