Plenary: The India Decade

With the opening remarks of Mr Sameer Kochhar, Chief Editor & CEO, Skoch the Plenary session of ‘The India Decade’ kick started, which then witnessed some very interesting views and debates among the eminent panellists and the audience, namely, Dr Bibek Debroy, Distinguished Fellow, Skoch Development Foundation; Mr R Chandrashekhar, Secretary, Department of Information Technology; Mr R Gopalan, Secretary (Financial Services), Ministry of Finance; Dr Shankar Acharya, Member, Board of Governors and Honorary Professor , ICRIER; Mr Kiran Karnik, Former President, Nasscom; Mr Ravi Parthasarathy, Chairman, IL&FS; Dr Deepak B Phatak, Skoch Development Foundation & Chair Professor, IIT-B, Mumbai.

If India has to achieve double digit growth rates then it should focus on increase saving rates, reducing share of agriculture in the GDP, increasing exports for high rate of growth, tackling inefficient delivery of public services - this would increment 1 per cent in the GDP growth.

Some of the geographical regions have not experienced any significant growth; the trickle-down effect of the economic growth has been meagrely felt. Regional and socio-economic imbalances pose more questions than the rural-urban continuum. These need to be dealt comprehensively and it should be understood that development is always imbalanced but the need is to extend it to all.

Harnessing demographic dividend to achieve higher growth rates is necessary, it is not evenly distributed today. If we miss to grab this opportunity now then by 2030, the ill effect of demography will be felt.

Information Technology is going to play important role in the next decade. It should be accessible and reachable to the billion Indians. How we use it in the field of health and education is going to be the deciding factor. Thus, decreasing gap between haves and have-nots should decrease.

Growth of the country has to be inclusive. Financial Inclusion is going to be one of the prime strategies for the inclusive growth as advocated by one of the prominent panellist. It should be defined as comfortable access to financial services. Out of 600,000 habitats in the country, only 7000 are banked, north eastern states remain very much under banked. Thus, there lies lot of scope and opportunity of expanding financial products and services to all. Only 40 per cent of the population have bank accounts, 10 per cent have some insurance cover and only 0.5 per cent of the population has non life insurance cover. Need is to promote the following among farmers for their Financial Inclusion Smart Cards, Credit Cards (Kisan Credit Cards, etc.) and Financial Literacy, designing of comprehensive financial curriculum for poor population.

All the banks to come out with a roadmap to achieve the Financial Inclusion, the deadline for the formulation of this road map has been set in March, 2010. Simultaneously, RBI is also encouraging the banks to cover all villages, by March 2011.

Indian economy has shown its resilience during the recession that ensures higher growth in the near future as world economy in recovering. To be able to maintain and further accelerate the growth, one of the speakers marked out that in the coming decade high interest rates and inflation is going to be crucial. Demographic factors are going to be equally crucial and it is important to develop skills of the population. Then, we need to ascertain that there is demand for the skills inculcated. Also, there is a need to reform labour laws to gain better output from the working population.

In the decade ahead, as far as natural resources are concerned, water management is going to be critical. It would be required to effectively improve the technological knowhow, better governance and delivery of services.

Slow processes are undermining the output and as a nation we need ensure growth with equity. It should be understood that migration is a reality and a natural process. Thus, there is a need to develop several smaller townships; with one township ending another would be beginning. Strong linkages has to be established between infrastructure development and economic growth.

The 3Ds are going to be very important and they are: Democracy, Demography, and Diversity. Next decade should see a shift from Politics to Governance, Geography to Sociology, Sensation to Sensitivity towards society, Sustainability of programmes and Optimism – Growth along with improved Human Development Index (HDI) and compassionate care to all without any greed.