Parliament Special Session: When India Become Developed Country

What is Modi government’s India@2047 vision?

Recently, the discussion about making India developed has gained momentum. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reiterated many times that India has to be made a developed country. For this, Modi government has prepared Vision@2047. It is also being called India@2047 and India@100. In this vision, the target has been set that by 2047, when India completes 100 years of independence, the country has to be brought into the ranks of developed countries. This vision of the Prime Minister has also been discussed in the special session of Parliament. In this special session of Parliament, a resolution has been taken to make India a developed country by 2047. So let us take this opportunity to know what is a developed country? According to which parameters is it decided whether a country is developed or not? What is the definition of developed country? Also do you know how far away is today’s India from becoming a developed country?

What is the definition of developed country?

First of all let us know what is the definition of developed country. A developed country means a country which has a mature economy, advanced technological infrastructure, industry as well as service sector, and whose citizens have access to quality health facilities and higher education. All these scales are comparative. This means that there is no clear line on which the countries on one side can be called developed countries and the countries on the other side can be called underdeveloped. It is generally decided by comparing on parameters like Gross Domestic Product i.e. GDP, per capita GDP, per capita income etc. Apart from this, countries are also divided into different categories according to the standard of living of the people.

How is development classified?

The United Nations places countries into two categories – developed countries and developing countries. Its yardstick is fundamental economic conditions. The International Monetary Fund has three categories – developed economies, emerging economies and developing or low-income economies. The World Bank has 4 categories – high-income economies, upper-middle income economies, lower-middle income economies and low-income economies. The IMF uses several criteria for classification, while the World Bank classifies based on per capita income.

Examples of developed-developing countries?

If we look at the latest report of the United Nations, the situation in 2023 looks something like this. There are 36 countries in the category of developed countries, while 126 countries are considered developing. Developed countries include America and Europe. Japan is among the developed countries of Asia. Developing countries include Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Some examples of developed countries are- America, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland etc. Examples of developing countries are- India, China, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, Turkey, Thailand etc.

Some things become clear from the above example. Like China is the second largest economy in the world. It is a 4-5 times bigger economy than developed countries like Britain, France, Germany, Japan, yet it is in the category of developing countries. Now look at this table…

(Source: United Nations, 2023 GDP size in trillion dollars)

Where does India stand in comparison to other countries?

Now if we talk about India, even though we have become the fifth largest economy in the world, we are far away from the goal of becoming a developed country. To understand the picture better, let us look at two parameters and the current situation of India according to them. India is not even in the top-100 in terms of per capita GDP. India’s ranking is 139th on nominal basis and 127th on PPP basis. Similarly, if we look at another scale, Human Development Index, India is currently at 132nd position.

(Source: World Bank, United Nations Development Programme)

Will India be able to become developed by 2047?

Now the question comes whether India can really become a developed country by 2047? Not only Prime Minister Narendra Modi but all Indian and foreign institutions and agencies also answer this in yes. The data so far supports this answer. Take this data from the International Monetary Fund for example. Till last year, Bangladesh was also ahead of us in terms of per capita GDP, but now India is ahead. A recent report by Standard Chartered says that by 2030, India will become a 6 trillion dollar economy. During this period, India’s per capita income will increase by 70 percent and this figure will cross $4,000. It is also estimated that by 2047, India will leave America behind in terms of GDP. Some estimates show India becoming the largest economy by 2047. Surely the story of India’s progress in the coming years is going to be fantastic. As far as becoming developed is concerned, according to the Reserve Bank of India, India does not need much, just an annual growth rate of around 7.5 percent. If India maintains an average economic growth rate of 7.6 percent for the next 25 years, we will be celebrating 100 years of independence as a developed country.