‘We grow with the world’: PM Modi pitches India as global growth partner

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s economy grew by 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter, projecting the country as a pillar of global reliability and stability amid geopolitical uncertainty.

Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Delhi on Tuesday (October 13), he attributed the growth to strong economic fundamentals, financial resilience and sustained reforms. He pitched India as a global economic and technology power that seeks to help other nations prosper rather than grow at their expense.

“We do not grow at anyone’s cost. We grow with the world, and for the world,” Modi said, arguing that India’s expanding economic and technological capabilities could help address global challenges amid geopolitical tensions, supply-chain disruptions and growing competition over strategic resources.

Economic growth

Citing foreign-exchange reserves of more than USD 700 billion and reforms spanning taxation, insolvency and labour laws, Modi said India was well-positioned to withstand global uncertainty. “In a world filled with uncertainty, India offers the assurance of reliability and stability,” he said.

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The economic growth - fastest by any large economy - "is taking place on a strong foundation," he said.

The remarks come as India seeks to attract investment, expand its manufacturing base and strengthen its position in global supply chains amid efforts by governments and companies to diversify production and reduce strategic dependencies.

‘Power to Empower’

Modi framed India's rise around what he called the principle of "Power to Empower", arguing that the true measure of economic and technological strength lay not in the ability to control others but in creating opportunities for them.

He highlighted India's digital public infrastructure, affordable mobile data, digital payments and direct transfers of government benefits as examples of technology widening access to economic opportunities.

Modi said the same digital payments ecosystem used by street vendors was available to large businesses, describing it as an illustration of inclusive technology.

India is also sharing its digital public infrastructure expertise with partner countries, particularly in the Global South, he said, citing the open-source CoWIN platform developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Startup ecosystem

The prime minister said India's startup ecosystem had expanded from a few hundred ventures before 2014 to more than 250,000, with nearly half based in smaller cities and towns. He also said more than 45 per cent of startups had at least one woman director or partner, arguing that innovation was reaching a wider pool of entrepreneurs.

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On poverty reduction, Modi said India had lifted 25 crore people out of poverty over the past decade, pointing to technology-enabled welfare transfers and the government’s digital identity and payments infrastructure as contributors to more efficient delivery of public assistance.

Global vulnerabilities

The prime minister, however, warned that globalisation was increasingly exposing countries to strategic vulnerabilities as supply chains, energy, critical minerals, payment systems and technology became instruments of geopolitical pressure.

"Things that once connected the world are now being turned into weapons," he said, calling for greater trust and cooperation among countries facing disruptions and intensifying strategic competition.

He argued that India's role as a supplier of affordable medicines, a source of skilled talent and a provider of digital infrastructure offered an alternative based on cooperation. One in five generic medicines globally comes from India, he said, while the country hosts more than 2,000 global capability centres serving companies worldwide.

Modi also cited India's supply of vaccines to more than 100 countries during the pandemic as an example of using domestic manufacturing capacity to meet international needs. The country's growing capabilities, he said, should translate into greater benefits for the global economy.

Clean energy

Clean energy formed another pillar of his argument. Modi said India had achieved its target of sourcing 40 per cent of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuels in November 2021, well ahead of its 2030 deadline under the Paris climate pledge. He said renewable-energy capacity had risen from about 75 gigawatts in 2014 to approximately 300 gigawatts.

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He also highlighted the PM Surya Ghar and PM-KUSUM schemes, which support household solar adoption and solar energy generation by farmers. Such programmes, he said, could reduce emissions while lowering costs and creating economic opportunities.

Modi pointed to initiatives including the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Global Biofuels Alliance as examples of India's efforts to build international partnerships around shared interests. He also called for cooperation on artificial intelligence, climate change, public health and water security.

Reform agenda

On domestic policy, Modi said reforms remained central to India's growth strategy, citing the goods and services tax, insolvency legislation, the consolidation of labour laws and the decriminalisation of hundreds of minor business-related offences.

"For us, reforms are not a compulsion. Reforms are our conviction," he said.

(With agency inputs)