Asia’s richest man Gautam Adani on Saturday said India, which took 58 years to become a trillion dollar economy, will add an equivalent sum to GDP every 12-18 months and will be the world’s second largest economy by 2050.
Speaking at the 21st World Congress of Accountants here, he said back-to-back global crises have challenged several assumptions, including that China should adopt western democratic principles, secular principles are universal, the EU would stay together, and that Russia would be forced to accept a reduced international role.
“This multilevel crisis has shattered the myth of a unipolar or a bipolar world of superpowers that could step in and stabilize global environments,” he said.
“In my view - in this emerging multipolar world - superpowers will need to be those that take responsibility to step in and help others in a crisis and not bully other nations into submission, those that keep humanity as their foremost operating principle.”
A superpower, he said, must also be a thriving democracy and yet believe that “there is no one uniform style of democracy.”
“The style of capitalism that drives growth for the sake of growth and ignores the social fabric of a society, is rightfully facing its greatest pushback ever,” he said.
Adani, 60, said the foundations of India’s increasing economy might have become relevant and a majority government has given the nation the ability to initiate several structural reforms in the political and administrative system.
“It took us 58 years to get to our first trillion dollars of GDP, 12 years to get to the next trillion and just five years for the third trillion.
“Given the pace at which the government has been executing a vast multitude of simultaneous social and economic reforms, I anticipate that within the next decade, India will start adding a trillion dollar to its GDP every 12 to 18 months - thereby putting us well on track to be a USD 30 trillion economy by 2050 and with a stock market capitalization that will possibly exceed USD 45 trillion,” he said.
India is currently the world’s fifth largest economy with a gross domestic product (GPD) of USD 3.5 trillion. In comparison, the US is a USD 23 trillion economy with a stock market capitalization ranging from USD 45 to 50 trillion.
“A country, crushed and drained by its colonial rulers, today stands on the cusp of an extraordinary growth and is the only major country on a path to emerge as a high-income nation without compromising its democracy and diversity,” he said.
