WORLD CAN’T IGNORE INDIA & CHINA ANY MORE : ANIL AMBANI

WORLD CAN’T IGNORE INDIA & CHINA ANY MORE : ANIL AMBANI

WASHINGTON: World, in particular the developed world in the West, can no longer afford to ignore India and China at least in terms of their economic power, ADAG chief Anil Ambani has said.

Achieving a growth of 8-9 per cent per annum at a sustained pace on a long-term basis is a real possibility, Ambani said at a panel discussion on "The Shifting Global Economy and Implications for Trade" being held on the sidelines of the annual conference of the US Exim Bank here.

Achieving such a growth rate -- a reality in India and China -- is "impossible" in the United States and other developed countries of the world, Ambani said. At the same time, he said there are challenges which India has to address on a priority basis.

There is need of creating infrastructure, intellectual, physical and social, which would be the prime movers of India's growth.

Ambani said there is great opportunity for US companies to India. With nearly 100,000 Indian students coming to the US every year, Ambani said, in the years to come, a large number of Indian would think and live like Americans.

"Indian savings would go down and credit card economy would boom," he said, adding, in a globalised economy, Asia, in particular countries such as India and China huge business opportunities to US companies.

Arvind Subramanian, senior fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, agreed and said the world can no longer ignore India and China, which by 2030 would be among the top three largest economies of the world.

"China is already the biggest economy, trader and net banker in the world. It's a world where the US can no longer take its economic preeminence for granted," Subramanian argued.

Ambani praised the Chinese effort of increasing its business and economic relationship with India. India, he said, is the largest trading partner of China, a place, which was earlier occupied by the US.

India is a young country as compared to China. In less than a decade from now, more than half a billion people would be less than 30 years of age, he said.

On Thursday Ambani met the Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, during which they discussed the new momentum in economic relationship of the two countries, following the November visit of the US President Barack Obama to India.

Locke and Ambani expressed their desire to work together to accelerate the development of the bilateral relationship, sources told PTI.

It is believed that during the meeting Locke spoke to the momentum of the US-India economic relationship coming off of Obama's historic visit to India last November.

Both expressed desire to work together to accelerate the development of the bilateral relationship, sources said.