Urbanization must for India’s quantum economic growth: Amitabh Kant

New Delhi: The real growth in India can only happen through urbanization which is a must for quantum economic jump and poverty reduction in the country, NITI Aayog's CEO Amitabh Kant said on Tuesday during an interactive session around a range of policy issues, organized by Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI).

India needs to fire a lot of cylinders, including manufacturing, to get to its real growth potential, Kant added.

The session was moderated by Apple India's Managing Director Virat Bhatia and Vinita Sethi, SVP & Chief Public Affairs, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd.

Talking about climate change and India's role in ensuring rapid industrial growth without carbonizing the world, Kant said, India is the only country in the world that has achieved its NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions) targets which were finalized in 2021. India has also brought down the cost of renewable power 2.7 cents per kilowatt-hour. That gives India an opportunity to crack water and produce green hydrogen and become a centre of the world to become global green hydrogen in its liquid form and more ammonia.

Kant also said that India has dismantled around 1500 rules & regulations to promote the ease-of-doing-business in the country and states need to follow the same. States like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat have grown at a rapid rate and are on the way of becoming the key drivers of the Indian economy due to their ease of doing business policies, he added.

India needs a paradigm shift to move towards technology and innovation and leapfrog across the sunrise sectors, where the real growth is. The government's role should be in public policy in areas like health, education and nutrition, and the public policy should help create wealth through the private sector. We should push for more and more private-public partnerships to get the kind of growth we are aiming for, added Mr Kant.

About PAFI

Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) aims at aligning business, society and government on long term priorities; fostering trust across all stakeholders; collaboratively developing smart and relevant policies, proposals and processes that foster innovation and rely on evidence-based research and promote capacity building to navigate change within the context and complexity of India.

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