India has halved its poverty rate since the 1990s and achieved over seven per cent of growth rate in the last 15 years said The World Bank on Tuesday, October 15.

The World Bank has said that the country plays a crucial role in the success of global development efforts, including the elimination of poverty, and as an influential leader for global goods such as addressing climate change. 

The bank’s statement comes ahead of its annual meeting with the International Monetary Fund. Anticipating the country’s economic growth and its determination to eliminate poverty in the coming decade, it said that India’s development trajectory nonetheless faces considerable challenges.

World Bank’s Solution

The bank advised India to achieve greater resource efficiency as it sustains growth after considering its resource endowments and large population. The bank instructed India to utilise its land more productively in urban areas by the spatial transformation of cities and in rural areas by increasing agricultural productivity.

“India will need to enhance its water management and increase its water use in several sectors,” opined the bank. It advocated that the country rapidly needs investment in infrastructure, an estimated 8.8 per cent of GDP or USD 343 billion until 2030.

The bank noted that to sustain the economic growth, the country needs to increase inclusion which will help to create more jobs. The bank highlighted that while in India, 13 million people enter the working age each year, only three million new jobs are generated every year.

The bank underlined that there has been a gradual decline in the female labour force participation. At present only 27 per cent of Indian females participate in the labour force, which is among the lowest in the world.

The bank said that public sector institutions need to be modernised to provide services and regulations that match the aspirations of a middle-income country.

Although, the bank warned that disruption caused due to the introduction of GST and demonetisation under the BJP led government combined with the stress in the rural economy and rising unemployment rate have increased the risks for the poorest households. The bank predicted India’s growth to fall to 6 per cent. In 2018-19, the growth rate of the country stood at 6.9 per cent.

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