India is a labour-rich country with enough institutional maturity; can get to 8% growth: NITI Aayog vice-chairman

Suman Bery also cautioned that the reality is that the north of India has not been traditionally doing as well as the south of India and this can create tensions in a federal polity.

Suman K. Bery. File

India has potential to grow at 8% as the country is labour-rich with enough institutional maturity of a functioning democracy, NITI Aayog vice-chairman Suman Bery said on December 7.

Mr. Bery also cautioned that the reality is that the north of India has not been traditionally doing as well as the south of India and this can create tensions in a federal polity.

"So 8% growth or something approximating that means continuous change that needs to be politically managed," he said while addressing the Global Economic Policy Forum 2023, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Finance Ministry. According to Mr. Bery, the modernisation journey of India is unusual and unique.

"And if I wanted to bet on India for the next 25 years, I would point to first, the fact that we are not labour constrained in a world which is increasingly labour constrained, but much more importantly, that we have the institutional maturity of a functioning democracy with established rules of the game for the transfer of power we have just seen magnificently in the state elections," he added. Mr. Bery noted that economic growth in a country like India is a prerequisite for equity.

"So growth is not an end in itself, but it is a means to an end to raise living standards and to secure India's strategic and institutional economy," he said.

Mr. Bery pointed out that India is a fastest growing major economy but still the lowest per capita income country in the G20.