Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday described the middle class as India’s growth engine and said nearly 500 cities are poised to emerge as the country’s next centers of economic activity.While participating in a panel discussion on “How to foster the emergence of a new middle class” at Rencontres Economiques d’Aix-en-Provence, a major economic forum in France, Sitharaman said 31% of India’s population is middle class as of today. She noted that since India opened up its economy, the middle class has been growing at an annual rate of 6.3%.“We believe 93% of total spending in India will be due to middle class or slightly affluent consumers…
Again, this middle class is not concentrated in our big cities… The Indian model has led to development in such a way that the middle class is present not only in the big cities, but on the contrary in tier II and III cities.”Citing a study conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Sitharaman said India will overtake China in absolute terms in the size of its middle-class population between 2030 and 2035 on the back of several measures taken by the government. Stressing that India remains the fastest-growing major economy post-Covid-19, primarily due to consumption sparked by the middle class, she said, “Nearly 500 cities are poised to emerge as new centers of economic activity.”
Speaking about the benefits of artificial intelligence, Sitharaman said that people are constantly working on improving their technical skills. She added that for those who fear that AI will replace jobs, there is widespread government support through AI-focused skills programmes.