India has an opportunity to build a $ 10 trillion economy over two decades if it were to aim to grow its gross domestic product (GDP) by 9 percent per annum, said a flagship report of global professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released today.

This report titled ‘Future of India — The Winning Leap’ was launched by Dennis M Nally, Global Chairman, of PwC in the capital today.

It has revealed the winning solutions required to lead India to unprecedented economic growth coupled with the radical improvements in human development index (HDI) over the next two decades.

Releasing the report, Nally—who is on his fourth trip to India this year—said he has tremendous confidence about India and its future.

“I have tremendous confidence about India and its future. We believe in the growth story of India and want to be part of it from PwC standpoint. India’s aspiration of achieving 9 percent is certainly attainable”, Nally said.

For PwC, which has been in India for over 130 years, India is one of the most important markets and the best is really yet to come, he said.

To achieve the aspirational 9 percent GDP growth, there is need to increase annual foreign investment flows six fold, Nally said.

There is also need to ramp up Research & Development (R&D) spend as a percentage of GDP from 0.8 percent in 2013 to 2.4 percent in 2034.

Both Government and companies should collaboratively take steps to increase R&D spend, Nally said.

A potent combination of more investment in R&D, technological spill over and better allocation of financial capital will accelerate GDP growth, he said.

For India to achieve the aspirational growth of 9 percent to become a $ 10 trillion economy, substantial and enduring reforms should be undertaken across all sectors, said PwC India Chairman Deepak Kapoor.

A concerted effort from Corporate India, supported by a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and a constructive partnership with the Government will play a critical role, Kapoor said.

For this flagship report, PwC spoke to 80 business leaders in different sectors both in India and abroad and surveyed 1,500 employees (less than 35 years of age) within its own network.

The report investigates 10 sectors—education, healthcare, agriculture, retail, power, manufacturing, financial services, urbanisation and enabling sectors such as India’s digital and physical connectivity. Together, these sectors constitute over 70 percent of India’s GDP.

Shashank Tripathi, Partner and Strategy Leader at PwC India said the report stressed that linear growth in each sector would not be enough to meet the growth ambition envisioned for India.

Given the complexity and scale of the challenges facing India, the resources required, and the urgency of demands for change coming from Indian citizens, sector players must deploy solutions that deploy non-linear growth.

For instance, a Winning Leap approach that increases ‘average years of schooling’ from 7 to 10 by 2034 could save the education sector $ 170 billion in cumulative investments, Tripathi said.

This can only happen when innovative solutions such as mEducation, receive wide scale adoption, investment and execution, he said.

>srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in

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