Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2024, reiterated his promise to make India a developed nation along with an advanced economy by 2047 from the ramparts of Red Fort, New Delhi. However, PM Modi admitted that to achieve this goal, reforms are necessary. "We aim to advance in line with our country’s unique conditions while adopting the best practices from around the world. Every sector requires modernization and innovation, with an emphasis on integrating technology," said PM Modi from the ramparts of Red Fort. Now, the question is whether India can really become a developed nation by 2047 as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi or not. Well, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Managing Director (MD) Gita Gopinath has reacted to it and has cautioned the government of India to overcome one particular roadblock. Gita Gopinath in an interview with a news channel talked about India's economy and PM Modi's vision of India as a developed nation by 2047-
Gita Gopinath said, "Firstly again I just want to emphasize that India is doing extremely well in terms of its growth rate. At 7 percent, it is the fastest-growing major economy in the world. And being able to keep that up which we expect that it will do to 6.5 percent, is a large accomplishment. Now, 2047 is a very long way out. I think we can look for some intermediate targets around the way along the way we expect by 2027 India could be the third-largest economy in the world based on our growth projection.
But, what happens all the way several years later, of course, that's a long run. Now, we have to keep in mind that most middle-income countries have not graduated into advanced economy status, the so-called middle-income trap. But, it's the countries that keep up with persistent structural reforms on multiple fronts and graduating not just from at some point where it is more using techniques that exist but moving to a more innovation-driven economy making that transition happen, it takes all of that to be an advanced economy. There are small exceptions like South Korea, and Singapore that have accomplished that. India can certainly work towards that goal, but it's going to require a huge movement on multiple fronts."
For the unversed, in economics terms, the middle-income trap is nothing but a situation where a country has developed until GDP per capita has reached a middle level of income, but the country does not develop further and it does not attain the high-income country status