How India can get to $7 Trillion by 2030? 🇮🇳
And what needs to happen to get there
Welcome to the 173rd edition of the GrowthX Newsletter. Every Tuesday & Thursday I write a piece on startups & business growth. Today’s piece is going to 95,300+ operators & leaders from startups like Google, Stripe, Swiggy, Razorpay, CRED & more
Today, India completes 77th Independence day. From a colonised country by the Britishers to a $3.6 Trillion economy. And, Bharat will double to the $7 Trillion in the next 7 years - similar to what happened in China ⬇️
Don't bother about the GDP ⛔️
Let's look at the per capita income - the amount of money earned by an average citizen in a year. India's per capita in 1947 was ₹250 which is now ₹1,70,000.
Seems all good? Not really? 🙇🏻
India's top 1% population holds 22% of national income. Read that again.
And, that's a major problem to be solved as we become a $7 Trillion economy.
What's India’s path to a $7 Trillion economy? 💰
1/ Quality education for everyone 📖
Seems very basic- but we as a country need to solve the 23% illiteracy rate & more importantly the quality of our education. We need education based on value creation rather than mugging up stuff.
2/ Building 100s of ₹1,000+ Cr revenue companies 💰
We need the TATAs & Reliance of the world but we also need thousands of companies making 7-digit revenues. That means we need more founders starting these companies & tech to scale them at speed.
3/ Re-skilling our prime workforce 🛠
Our government has done some good work here. But, we need to push this more. When I go back to my native (remote village in Maharashtra), I still see young men/women without jobs and a bachelor’s degree that's useless.
4/ Women's contribution to the workforce 🤷🏻♀️
India's female labor participation rate has been surprisingly declining over the past 20 years, from 32% in 2005 to 19% in 2021. This needs a fix or we are losing out on an opportunity to double the per capita income for households.
5/ The India stack for tech + infra ⚡️
UPI & JIO has solved access to information & digital payments. We need more additions to the India stack across last mile/ logistics/ railways & deeper national highway connectivity.
6/ Build in India for the world 🌍
Our software-building capability is our right to win. We don't have to do rocket science (ISRO is doing that btw) to solve the net trade deficit. It will help us boost the purchasing power of the Indian rupee.
India’s software exports reached a record high of US$ 320 billion in FY23, increasing its share in global computer services exports to about 11%, according to a report from DBS Group. This is a strong sign to double down.
7/ Healthcare for everyone 🩺
Only 37% of the people in the country have any sort of medical insurance. Medical expenses is one of the core reasons for lower economic strata to never come out of poverty. Access to healthcare at an affordable cost is second.
8/ Extremely stable political vision 🧘♂️
Plot a graph of India's GDP vs periods of political stability - it's a clear pattern. You like/ don't like a specific government - the per capita numbers don't lie. We need a strong political "will" to really compound as a country.
What's something you & I can do?
As a startup ecosystem, we need to solve 3 things.
Access to capital & credit.
Help founders build companies that solve a real need.
Build enough talent density for these companies so they can keep building & distributing their products.
Jai Hind 🇮🇳
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