Infra Talk: Sharp focus on India’s Fourth Industrial Revolution

I attended the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit with my eyes trained on discussions by high-level leaders from business, government, civil society and academia that explore how we can collectively shape policies for inclusive growth and harness the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” 

The world economy today is a matrix of divergent growth patterns, where different economies are growing at different paces. The ‘two speed’ economic growth theory that was followed for at least two decades before the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 200809 has, over the last five years, given way to divergent growth paths in both the advanced and emerging economies. It has become difficult to cull optimum investment opportunities globally, and BREXIT fears as well as the slowdown in China have dimmed the global investment outlook. 

China has been seeing a consistent slowdown in activity. From a peak growth rate of around 14% year on year in 2007, it went to an average growth rate of around 9 post Global Financial Crisis. Currently, it is below 7%, and the Chinese economy has become a cause for real concern. In fact, global policymakers, economic  analysts and investors waiting to see when and to what extent China will bottom out. China’s exports, which accounted for 40% of its precrisis GDP, have been under considerable stress as world demand slows down. 

For consumption driven economies such as India, falling commodity prices are favourable because their imports get cheaper and trade deficits narrow down. India’s states are comparable to some major economies across the globe. However, the opportunity is way bigger for India as a country and an emerging superpower. Finance minister Arun Jaitley aptly states at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year that “India’s GDP can potentially grow to 9%, and that the ‘I’ in BRICS now represents hope for the world. The time is right for India to strengthen its economy and cities further, so that it can gear up for the oncoming Fourth Industrial Revolution. In manufacturing, we need to be innovation driven as well as mass product supply driven under the government’s ‘Make in India’ program. The demographic dividend must be capitalised on through other initiatives like ‘Skill India’ and ‘Digital India’, and we must meet the Digital Age heads on with appropriate skills and talent development.”