Southern States Vital for India’s Growth, says NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant

Former CEO of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, emphasized the need for India’s economic growth to rise from the current seven percent to at least 10 percent at an event organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Southern Regional Council Meeting. He stated that 10 to 12 states must grow at 10 percent plus to enable other states to grow and that southern states must play a critical role as they rank number one in every index of health, education, and tourism. He explained that India’s growth story has to be driven by the southern region and especially the private sector and every state has to become the easiest place of doing business to allow the private sector to invest and grow. He projected that over 500 million people would be migrating to urban areas over the next five years, which would offer a huge opportunity for the private sector to be a part of the new and well-planned cities. Furthermore Kant stressed the importance of developing the sunrise sectors like electric mobility, battery storage, and green hydrogen as it is essential to bring down the cost of production and for the creation of a robust global value chain. India must further develop the skills, ability to manufacture, improve logistics, and the ability to turn around ports to make India a truly global leader, he said.