India's economy expected to grow by 7.5% this year: PM at BRICS Forum

New Delhi: The Indian economy is expected to grow by 7.5 per cent this year which will make it the fastest growing major economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday.

Highlighting the growth of India's digital economy, he said its value will reach USD one trillion by 2025 and that the government is supporting innovation in every sector.

In a virtual address at the opening ceremony of the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) Business Forum, Modi said there are investment opportunities to the tune of USD 1.5 trillion under the country's National Infrastructure Pipeline.

He said that the kind of digital transformation that is taking place in India today has never been seen in the world before.

"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," he said.

"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.

He said a key pillar of India's current economic recovery is technology-led growth and that the government has made innovation-friendly policies in many areas like space, blue economy, green hydrogen, clean energy, drones and geo-spatial data.

"Today, India has one of the best eco-systems in the world for innovation, which is reflected in the growing number of Indian start-ups. There are more than 100 unicorns in over 70,000 start-ups in India, and their number continues to grow," he said.

"Second, 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 said.

He said the work is going on at a "massive scale" to bring in more transparency and consistency in government policies, adding infrastructure in India is also being improved on a large scale.

"India has prepared a National Master Plan. There are investment opportunities of USD 1.5 trillion under our National Infrastructure Pipeline. The value of the Indian digital economy will reach 1 trillion dollars by 2025," Modi said.

He said the growth of the digital sector also encouraged the participation of women in the workforce.

"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," he said.

Modi said BRICS women business alliance can undertake study in this transformative change in India.

"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," he said.

PM to have high-level dialogue on global development at Forum

The BRICS brings together five of the largest developing countries of the world, representing 41 per cent of the global population, 24 per cent of the global GDP and 16 per cent of the global trade.

Modi will join Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the virtual annual summit of the five-nation grouping. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are also set to attend the summit.

"At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the 14th BRICS Summit hosted by China in virtual format on June 23 and 24. This includes a high-level dialogue on global development with guest countries on June 24," the MEA said in a statement on Tuesday.