India’s developmental model could be template for other countries: CEA Nageswaran

Johannesburg: India’s developmental experiences could be a template for other countries, Chief Economic Adviser to the government Dr V Anantha Nageswaran told a seminar of leading South African and Indian expatriate business leaders here.

Nageswaran was the keynote speaker at the seminar organised jointly on Tuesday by the Indian High Commission, the Consulate General in Johannesburg and the CII India Business Forum, which represents over 150 Indian companies invested in South Africa.

“India is a country with the largest population trying to transform itself into a developed nation within the context of a democratic polity and also within the context of a federal governance structure. Therefore, India’s experiences will be very useful templates for many countries, including (South Africa),” Nageswaran said.

“India will forever be a land of excitement, opportunities and a land where many public policy paradigms are created for other countries to learn from as we journey from three trillion to 13 trillion in the next 25 years," he added as he reflected on the Viksit Bharat plans.

Nageswaran also suggested the new global environment needed a changed approach to partnerships.

“At no other time since the last world war do countries need to lean on each other as much as now,” he said.

“We need to be agnostic and open-minded. We cannot therefore choose but rather be opportunistic in forming partnerships because the world is now in a phase of churn. We are moving from one equilibrium to another and we should not lock ourselves into positions.

“It does not mean that we shift convictions and focus of convenience but it is about being creative in our partnerships and identifying areas where there is commonality, putting aside our areas of differences for consideration at a later date,” Nageswaran said.

Admitting that this might sound philosophical, he said it is also pragmatic.

“Ultimately when we have goals for the economy, we should remember that these outcomes are influenced by various factors beyond our control. What is within our control is the efforts that we can take to achieve Viksit Bharat.

“The outcomes will be subject to global factors, but what the Government of India has been trying to do in the last ten years and will continue to do in the next ten years also is to put in place the building blocks that will take us to Viksit Bharat," Nareswaran said.

"Whenever circumstances turn propitious, these efforts, such as building infrastructure, deregulation, governance change investing in education and skilling and making India’s MSMEs a viable component of the economic system, will eventually create the conditions for driving economic growth in the country towards its aspiration of being a developed nation by 2047,” he concluded.

Another speaker, Saki Zamxaka of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency, said that areas that were critical to a partnership with India included mineral resources.

“As we build our mineral beneficiation, which is where part of the opportunity is, as there are minerals which will be necessary for India’s growth that we can export,” he said.

Zamxaka said a second area where Indian companies that have set up in South Africa could see organic growth was in helping the country develop skills in manufacturing pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, which it was importing currently.

“India being an economy as big and as influential as it is, will be critical in working with South Africa not against anyone but in broader interests. There are specific things we are doing with IBF and the Consul General in terms of growing trade, but the growth is in the context of what is happening globally and finding each other at BRICS and other multilateral forums,” he said.

IBF President Nihar Patnaik shared the rapid development in India in diverse areas.

“We have been witnessing startups and young billionaires emerging from every corner of India,” Patnaik said.

High Commissioner Prabhat Kumar said India was currently South Africa’s third largest trading partner behind China and the US but was confident that it could become number two.

“Germany and India are vying for that position. China is huge, but in the near future, we can probably become number two in both export and import with the cooperation of all our people,” Kumar said.