India is the engine of the global growth train in the coming years, says Neelesh Shah of Kotak Mahindra AMC| Business News

“India may look small today at 3.5% of global GDP,” Shah said at the Kotak International Insight Summit held at the Metropolitan Club in New York recently. “But we are gradually pushing towards 8% to 10% of global growth, and under purchasing power parity our share of expansion is close to 18%, and India is the engine of the global growth train in the coming days.”

With a per capita GDP of $2,940, India ranks 136th in the world – a reminder of the journey ahead. However, it stands as the fourth-largest economy, surpassing $4 trillion in nominal GDP this year, a huge jump of six places in just one decade – from 10th to 4th.

Speaking on fiscal wisdom, he said that while India’s consolidated deficit (center plus state) crossed 7 per cent of GDP last year, it is the only major economy to reduce its debt-to-GDP path between the sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2008 and the post-Covid crisis in 2025.

He said India is routinely called upon to open its economy and markets to global investment flows, yet it is the only country where the largest listed bank, asset management company, automobile company, fast moving consumer goods company, telecom company, engineering company, among others are majority owned by foreigners.

“India freely allows Meta, X, Google, Yahoo, WhatsApp, Amazon, etc. to operate which China has banned,” Shah said.

He said India attracted $81 billion in FDI (foreign direct investment) in the last fiscal year, about 5 per cent of the global total, but over 25 years, net gold imports have crossed $500 billion, pushing the country towards a capital exporter status, where net FDI exceeds that.