India can grow 1% faster with more women in labour force, says WB India director

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New Delhi: Ensuring women comprise 50% of the labour force could be the best way for India to increase its its GDP growth rate by 1% and touch the 8% growth it needs to become a $5 trillion economy by 2030, World Bank India director Auguste Tano Kouame said in an exclusive interview with Mint, adding however that the global environment is not conducive to its ambitions. Kouame said investments worth about $7 billion could come to India even before Indian securities are included in the JPMorgan emerging markets bond index in 2024. After the inclusion, investments worth more than $25 billion are expected.

Increasing private investment, reskilling of India's workforce and broad-basing financial access for MSMEs could also ensure sustained growth for India amid global headwinds. Kouame also noted the urgent need for the World Bank to become more efficient and effective at a time when development across the world is speeding up, and to increase its size by tapping the private sector. Excerpts from the interview: First, let's acknowledge that growth has been quite good in this global environment where there are a lot of headwinds.

India grew at 7.2% last year and is projected to grow by 6.3% for fiscal year 2023-24. Having said that, it's true that India could grow faster. India wants to be a $5 trillion economy by 2028 and an advanced economy by 2047.

For that a growth rate of 8% is required. And your question goes to the heart of this issue: what will it take for the growth engines to function with more dynamism so that India can achieve 8% growth? The first thing that is needed is not in India's hands, because you need to have a conducive global environment. If the global environment is what it is today, it is going to be