India needs to sustain growth to reach 'bottom echelons' of developed country by 2047: Sanyal

Economist Sanjeev Sanyal said this is a window of opportunity before the country, and we ought to make it work by remaining focused on economic growth and not getting distracted by other things.

Mumbai: Economist Sanjeev Sanyal on Wednesday said India needs to sustain the current growth momentum to reach the 'bottom echelons' of being considered a developed world by 2047.

Sanyal, a full-time member of the Economic Advisory Council, suggested that developing fast is imperative because by 2047, India would have aged and be in the same place as China is right now.

"We still remain a very poor country. So, we have to sustain this performance for 25 years. Only then are we going to get to the bottom echelons of being a developed country in 2047 when we will be 100 years of freedom," Sanyal said while addressing the India Global Forum here.

He said this is a window of opportunity before the country, and we ought to make it work by remaining focused on economic growth and not getting distracted by other things.

Sanyal said it is essential that we continue to undertake reforms to realise the growth potential and listed out some essential priorities.

He said the judicial side requires a lot of improvements, terming enforcement of contracts as a 'serious issue'.

'We need a judicial system meant for the 21st century, not one which is stuck in the 19th century,' he said.

There is also a need for a change in the bureaucracy, he said, crediting the last 25 years' progress to 'weakening the bureaucracies ability to stifle growth'.

With the growing urbanisation, there is also a need to improve the intra city infrastructure and civic services, Sanyal said, adding that the government is already working on it.

'We are shifting from intercity to intra city infrastructure. Mumbai is one of the first places we are working on this,' he said.