Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said that Asia is leading march towards an inclusive global economy and that India is likely to overtake countries to become the 3rd largest economy by 2030.

Share Market Live

NSE

In a chat with Dr Raghunath Anant Mashelkar at the Asia Economic Dialogue, he said that it was becoming increasingly obvious that "the centre of attention for global economy has shifted to Asia".

The RIL Chairman also highlighted that in 2020, Asia's GDP overtook the combined GDP of the rest of the world. "Asia accounts for 60 percent of the world’s population," he said, adding that "the mismatch between demography and development is closing".

"The trend is also reinforced by the fact that India is likely to overtake Japan as Asia's second largest economy and the oldest third largest economy by 2030. Dr Mashelkar, I am very confident that the India growth story will be more exciting if not more than that of a child in the coming decades to come. It is India's time," said the billionaire.

Ambani's comments come at a time when the Indian economy is on the recovery path after being severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic which left a number of sectors disrupted.

Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its February monetary policy said that the central bank has been continuously taking efforts to limit disruption caused by the pandemic to the economic activity. It said that policy actions of RBI have yielded desired result and now the central bank has turned to rebalance liquidity. However, the central bank stated that continued policy support is needed for durable and broad-based recovery.

On Tuesday, foreign brokerage Barclays said the Indian economy is likely to have expanded by 6.6 percent in the December quarter.

While it said that the economy had a relatively stable Q3 with many sectors getting back to their pre-pandemic level of businesses, the mild third wave did have an effect and may mean a downside risk to the earlier growth forecast of 10 percent in FY22.

Ambani at the Asia Economic Dialogue also pointed to climate change as the biggest threat to mankind and called for a green industrial revolution.

“Transition to clean energy is not an option anymore, it’s a compulsion,” he said. “There is no Planet B, we only have one planet,” he added.

>>Also Read | Barclays pegs India's Q3 GDP growth at 6.6%

Disclaimer: Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.

First Published:Feb 23, 2022 1:42 PM IST