‘Growth of middle-class income will be key for India’

India continues to be the fastest growing major economy in the world, growing at about 7 per cent, and is on course to become the third-largest economy in the world by 2027, outpacing Japan.

The growth is driven by a number of factors, with the middle-class set to see a big expansion in India, according to a report by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Sharing details of the report on the sidelines of the NEC C&C User Forum & iExpo here, Simon Baptist, global Chief Economist of The Economic Intelligence Unit, said the global economy is projected to grow at about 2.9 per cent in 2017 against 2.3 per cent in 2016. The projections are based on the report ‘Safe Cities Index 2017’.

While China’s growth is likely to be slow due to the government reining in credit and the first US recession in a decade predicted to arrive by 2020, India will be one of the economies that will continue to grow.

“Irrespective of any changes in the economy, we believe India will grow at over 7 per cent over the next decade and achieve higher growth rates. While the growth of the middle class will be key in driving this transformation in India, in China the transformation will be due to growth of the middle class to higher income groups,” he said.

The Safe Cities Index shows that there will be steady growth in urbanisation by 2050 and this will be pronounced in Asia and Africa. Referring to investments flowing into countries, he said the investments are often made due to the promise a city holds rather than a country or a State in particular.

The EIU expanded the list of cities to 60, where Tokyo was ranked No. 1 with Singapore at No.2 followed by Osaka in the Safe Cities Index. Delhi and Mumbai figured at 43 and 45, respectively.

He said while the Internet of Things is a great boom for cities, it makes them vulnerable to cyber threats and ransom.

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