Entrepreneurial spirit needed in society to achieve 9-10% growth: Amitabh Kant

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant addresses a programme on DST-Lockhneed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme in New Delhi on June 3, 2016. Image Source: IANS

The country needs to inculcate an "entrepreneurial spirit" in society to achieve 9 to 10% growth rate and expedite the process of scrapping unnecessary regulations to further improve ease of doing business, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said in Mumbai on Monday.

"India is going through a demographic transition and is growing at 7.5% per annum, whereas rest of the world is facing a very barren economic landscape. If we have to grow at 9 to 10%, we have to foster a huge entrepreneurial spirit," Kant said while addressing a gathering of business community.

"The power of compounding growth is huge...India is very complex, difficult to do business in. A lot of rules, regulations and acts that have been built over the last 68 years are slowly being dismantled... We need to accelerate this pace. We have just scrapped 1,053 laws," he added.

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He pointed out that India is 12 notches up in the ease of doing business and this year it will do better.

Kant believes the onus is on states as well to help the nation grow effectively.

"We have put out a portal where states are competing on 334 parameters, compared to 100 last year. The only way to make India improve is to make them (states) compete, and the worst performing states are named and shamed," he said.

Education, health and water are the primary areas where states need to improve drastically, he said.

He also stressed that urbanisation is critical driver of growth in cities. "Every minute 30 Indians are moving to the city. When India urbanises, land, gas and water will be scarce commodities... Therefore, India needs to have an innovative sustainable path of growth," he said.

Another crucial factor for India's entrepreneurial development is women's entrepreneurship. Currently, it accounts for 17% of India's gross domestic product (GDP), and women account for just 24% of total number of workers. Globally, women account for 40% of GDP, he said.

"Gender parity is crucial and is a key driver for growth," he stressed.

Lastly, he said, for India to be a centre of innovation and for the startup movement to thrive, it needs to focus on global markets and for this, it is important to increase the total factory output and produce at scale.

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