India to be third top economy in few years, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman emphasizes India's need for economic freedom to achieve developed nation status by 2047.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 16 said India needs economic freedom to achieve developed nation status by 2047 and assured that the country would move to the third spot in the world economy from the current fifth position in the near future.

Criticising those who compared India with China, Ms. Sitharaman said that certain things could not be replicated from them. “India should attain self-sufficiency on economic matters. It should become an economic power. The country has come from tenth position to fifth in global rankings and a few years down the line we will achieve the third spot,” she said, after unveiling a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at Shrimati Indira Gandhi College in Tiruchirappalli.

Appealing to the students gathered at the venue to contribute to the progress of the nation, she said, "It is through the efforts of students like you that our country will become a developed nation by 2047."

Referring to people talking about how China has progressed and comparisons with India, Ms. Sitharaman recalled that the two countries were at the same level 30 years ago.

"They have progressed because of various reasons which cannot be followed here. For example, (in China) there is no democracy at all. But we have civil liberty, freedom of speech is here and we have values in our system. And to become a developed nation, we should think positively," she said.

Observing that India was a rich country about 400 years ago, she said that even today there are references to Indian connections in Indonesia and other East Asian countries.

"Cholas had gone to Indonesia and set up a kingdom there. Even today there are references to that. So, what I am trying to say is that today, on this day when we remember Mahatma Gandhi, we should attain economic freedom and we should be free from imperial forces. That is why Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks about the Atmanirbhar Bharat (campaign) in his speeches to attain a developed nation with all your contribution", she said.