India’s roadmap for the future

in 2025, just 22 years away from India’s 100th year of independence. The next phase isn’t about just catching up. It’s about leading and transforming the Indian economy with knowledge and innovation. This is the moment to set the tone for the century year 2047.

India’s journey has been defined by ambition meeting resilience. From first Prime Minister Nehru’s five-year plans to the smart cities of today, each era has layered new capabilities over old challenges. We’ve moved from scarcity to surplus in agriculture, from subscale manufacturing due to our “small is beautiful” policy to becoming a services powerhouse, and from limited connectivity to one of the world’s largest mobile internet bases. Today, India stands as the world’s fourth-largest economy with a nominal GDP of over USD 4 trillion and the third largest economy on PPP basis.

India has 1.46 billion people with the world’s largest young population- 371 million persons are aged 15 to 29 years. This offers potential for economic growth

The country is the fastest-growing major economy: GDP growth is projected by IMF at 6.4% for FY 2025–26 and FY 2026-27.

Total exports reached US$ 825 billion in 2024–25, with services exports doubling to US$ 387 billion over the last decade. India is diversifying its basket of products and geographies

India now has 6.7 million km of roads- the second largest in the world. The National Highway network has grown 60% in a decade to 146,000 km in 2024

India’s rail network track length now exceeds 135000 km– already the fourth largest in the world and standarised on Broad Gauge and almost fully electrified

Urban transport- Metro network expanded to 1,013 km, up from 248 km in 2014, placing India third globally. Investments being made to increase this several fold

Urban development– Smart Cities Mission concluded in 2025 with 7,500+ projects completed and ₹1.5 lakh crore (USD 20 billion) invested in improving cities

India’s port capacity has seen a marked increase from 871 MMTPA to 1630 MMTPA in the last 10 years. The private sector is driving investments in logistics improvement

The stage is being prepared for a more efficient and productive economy. The target is a US$ 30 trillion economy by 2047, with per capita income climbing to US$ 14,000 from USD 2880 at present (Amrit Kaal)

Growth will come by harnessing abundant manpower and technologies across Agriculture, Manufacturing and Services

Increasing agricultural incomes calls for productivity using modern techniques, building an efficient cold chain, and exposing the Indian farmer to best practices and foreign competition. This will not be easy as there is less willingness in the political class to reform agriculture

Diversification in the manufacturing base is needed. We need to build scale in all we make. The ideal is to produce quality products at competitive prices for global markets. There is much to learn from our Asian neighbours who are ahead of us in the game. Several large business houses such as Tata (in automobiles, electronics, etc.), Adani (multiple businesses), Bajaj (automobiles), Reliance Industries and MNCs are building large factories in India. The policy environment needs to be favourable for this to succeed

The Services sector is well and truly integrated with the global economy. Trade, Transportation and Tourism are likely to grow several fold creating investment opportunities. The captive BPOs of yore have given way to Global Capability Centers (GCCs) which leverage India’s people, their technical strengths and accounting capabilities. Expect the action to move to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities