Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated on Friday that the coming decades will see the highest improvement in living standards for the average Indian, making it a period-defining era. Addressing the third edition of the Kautilya Economic Conclave, the minister stated that youth, increased consumerism, and innovation will determine the Indian age.

In her inaugural address, the FM stated that the consequences of the previous decade's economic and structural changes will become more apparent in the future years as the Covid shock faded. "It took us 75 years to achieve a per capita income of $2,730." According to forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), adding another $2,000 will take only five years.

Taking note of the summit's theme, 'The Indian Era,' Sitharaman stated that consumption would increase organically over the next decade because 43% of Indians under the age of 24 have yet to fully explore their consumption behavior, and ensuring the youth are cognitively equipped, emotionally strong, and physically fit is a core policy priority.

"India's youthful population provides a large base for total factor productivity improvements, savings, and investment," she stated. Simultaneously, Sitharman cited India's growing middle class as a driving factor, paving the way for more consumption, foreign investment, and a lively marketplace. She also predicted that the country's ability to innovate will grow and improve over the next few decades. The FM praised India's financial systems, saying they had grown into a competent system with crisis management, regulatory, and governance norms comparable to those of developed economies.

She observed that global geopolitical repositioning might function as a structural factor in India's favor by establishing solid supply chains with nations of strategic alignment. "India benefits from the new international order, which is reshaping to reflect the power distribution of today's world," according to her.

India's economic progress in the future decades will be unique, as the global landscape has changed. India aims to double its per capita income in a couple of years for its 1.4 billion people (which accounts for 18% of the global total) in a divided and broken globe where multiple ongoing conflicts may escalate, posing a danger to global peace, which is the foundation of wealth.

"In the early 2000s, developing countries such as China developed more quickly thanks to a favorable global trade and investment climate. "This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for India," the FM stated.

She predicted that by 2047, when India celebrates its 100th anniversary of independence, the new Indian age will share key traits with wealthy countries. "Viksit Bharat will usher prosperity not just to Indians but to the rest of the world by becoming central to a vibrant exchange of ideas, technology, and culture," she said.