Modi's vow: 3rd term, 3rd largest economy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday promised to make “Bharat” the third largest economy in his third term (2024-29), and asserted that his “good governance” model with “good intent” and the “right policies” would make India a developed nation.

- Rajeev Jayaswal

 

Delivering a speech in Hindi at the inauguration of the International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC) in Delhi, which has been named Bharat Mandapam, he recalled his government’s track record of transforming India into the fifth largest economy in the world from the 10th position at the beginning of his first term (2014-19), or, as he put it to the audience — “when you first gave me this responsibility”.

He reiterated that he was not pulling this number out of a hat.

“On the basis of this track record, I want to assure the country that in my third term, Bharat will be among the top three economies of the world,” he said. “Aur ye Modi ki guarantee hai [And this is Modi’s guarantee],” he added.

“I will assure the country that in my third term, Bharat’s journey of development will be even faster,” he said.

India is the fastest growing major economy in the world. The economy grew at 7.2% in the fiscal year 2022-23, positively surprising most analysts and exceeding the government’s own projection of 7% GDP growth. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday upwardly revised India’s growth forecast for calendar year 2023 by 0.2 percentage points to 6.1% from its April projection of 5.9%.