India on track to add $25tr to GDP by 2050: Adani

India’s demographic dividend, which will carry it well beyond 2050, will place the nation on track to becoming a 28-30 trillion-dollar economy by 2050, said Gautam Adani, the world’s sixth richest tycoon.

The third largest Asian economy will also add around $40 trillion to its stock market capitalisation by 2050 when it would have eradicated all forms of poverty, said the centibillionaire industrialist.

The numbers are stunning, but “we have a real shot at making this happen in just 10,000 days,” said the chairman of the power-to-ports Adani group, while addressing the India Economic Conclave 2022 themed ‘The Great Indian Democratic Dividend.”

India will add $2.5 billion to the GDP and the stock market will add $4 billion to market capitalisation every day until 2050, said Adani, who has added $49 billion in additional wealth — higher than the world’s two richest persons — Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos — in 2021 with an estimated current networth of $123.7 billion, ranking as the richest man in India. He is wealthier by $19 billion than India’s number two richest Mukesh Ambani, according to the latest data.

“My optimism comes from my belief that no nation in the world is as uniquely well placed as India to capitalise on four major vectors that will accelerate development. These are the pull from India’s demographic dividend, growth of the middle class, push from the accelerated digital economy and the sustainability focused economy.”

He said over the 10,000 days, the world’s second populous nation would have built a far more Atmanirbhar India. Atmanirbhar Bharat is not only a clarion call for national self-reliance, it also creates the way for expanding the Prime Minister’s vision from ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ to ‘Bharat Par Nirbhar.’

He said the prime minister’s vision is not a statement against globalisation. The expansion and integration of trade among nations is necessary. “But we must recognise that in the emerging world order, strength emerges from self-reliance and self-reliance equates to self-confidence.”

Noting that India is on the cusp of decades of growth that the world will want to tap into, Adani said “there can be no better defence of India’s interests at this time than Atmanirbharta.”

Adani’s bullish outlook for India came as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the nation’s economy appeared sound and expressed confidence that quickening inflation will be controlled.

“We’re looking very sound,” Sitharaman told Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power” with David Westin. “The recovery seems to be sustainable.”

India’s economy had started slowing even before the pandemic, mainly due to a crisis in its shadow banking sector. The shock of Covid-19 led to its biggest-ever contraction, with restrictions sapping demand in the consumption-driven economy.

Last week, the IMF estimated an 8.2 per cent pace of expansion this year, which would still make India the fastest-growing major economy. It would also be in line with the government’s projection of 8.0 per cent to 8.5 per cent.

In its April 8 policy statement, the RBI revised its inflation forecast for the current April-to-March fiscal year to 5.7 per cent, from 4.5 per cent seen in February.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com