Indian Digital Economy To Reach $1 Trillion By 2025, Says Narendra Modi The Prime minister said that the key pillar of India's current economic recovery is technology-led growth and government's innovation-friendly policies
By Teena Jose
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Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, said that the Indian economy is expected to grow by 7.5 per cent this year, which will make it the fastest growing major economy. He also highlighted the growth of digital economy and said that its value will reach $1 trillion by 2025 and that the government is supporting innovation in every sector. Prime Minister mentioned that there are investment opportunities to the tune of $1.5 trillion under the country's national infrastructure pipeline. Modi was speaking in a virtual address at the opening ceremony of BRICS Business Forum.
"In order to deal with the economic problems arising out of the pandemic in India, we have adopted the mantra of 'reform, perform and transform'. And the results of this approach are evident from the performance of the Indian economy. This year we are expecting 7.5 per cent growth, which makes us the fastest growing major economy. Transformative changes are taking place in every sector in the emerging new India," Modi said.
Stating the fact that the key pillar of India's current economic recovery is technology-led growth, Modi also pointed out that the government has made innovation-friendly policies in many areas like space, blue economy, green hydrogen, clean energy, drones and geo-spatial data.
As per his words, "Today India is one of the best ecosystems in the world for innovation, which is reflected in the growing number of Indian startups. There are more than 100 unicorns in over 70,000 startups in India, and their number continues to grow. Even during the pandemic, India continued to make many efforts to improve the ease of doing business. Thousands of rules have been changed to reduce the compliance burden on the business."
Modi highlighted that the participation of women in the workforce is happened because of the growth of the digital economy. He said, "There are approximately 36 per cent women out of 4.4 million professionals working in our IT sector. The maximum benefit from technology-based financial inclusion has also gone to the women in our rural-areas. Similarly, we can have a useful dialogue on innovation-led economic recovery. I suggest that the BRICS Business Forum may develop a platform for regular exchanges between our startups."
As per an official statement by ministry of external affairs, discussions during the 14th BRICS Summit are expected to cover the topics such as counter-terrorism, trade, health, traditional medicine, environment, innovation, agriculture, technical and vocational education and training and MSMEs. The Summit is in a virtual format under the theme 'Foster High-Quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development'.
BRICS is a multilateral forum consisting of five major economies such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It represents 41 per cent of the global population, 24 per cent of the global GDP and 16 per cent of the global trade, as per data available.
