It is not an impossibility to see India become ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 but a goal that would be achieved, Shaktikanta Das, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, said at the 5th Kautilya Economic Conclave 2026 in Delhi.
Because of strengthening of governance, state capacity and macroeconomic stability, Das said, adding the country’s prudent management of the external sector has strengthened macroeconomic stability, while there is high public debt in big economies, India’s resilience is primarily. He said India’s real GDP growth grew by 7.8 per cent in the first quarter with strong demand and investment conditions, but cautioned that uncertainty in the global environment can stifle global growth.
“A leap to Viksit Bharat by 2047 is very much in the realm of imagination,” Das, who was also former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said. The top bureaucrat said the learnings and wisdom from Kautilya are relevant for the global economy affected by wars and energy price volatility.
The conclave’s theme was ‘Resilience in an Age of Flux’, with global economic shocks, trade fragmentation, investment, technology and India’s economic priorities among the key areas of discussion. The average growth in the last five years between fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2026 in the post-Covid period is 7.9 per cent, he said.
Investment in long-term productive capacity has strengthened India’s macroeconomic stability, according to him.
