GS 3: Economy

Why in news?

• India is set to become the third-largest consumer market behind only the US and China and consumer spending in India is expected to grow from USD 1.5 trillion at present to nearly USD 6 trillion by 2030, as per a World Economic Forum report that released on January 9, 2019.
• The report titled ‘Future of Consumption in Fast-Growth Consumer Market – India’ noted that growth of the middle class will lift nearly 25 million households out of poverty in India.

Highlights:

• According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), with an annual GDP growth rate of 7.5 per cent, India is currently the world’s sixth-largest economy.
• As per the report, growth in income will transform India from a “bottom of the pyramid economy” to a middle class-led one.
• By 2030, domestic private consumption, which accounts for 60 per cent of the country’s GDP, is expected to develop into a USD 6-trillion growth opportunity.
• The report stated that if realised, this would make India’s consumer market the third-largest in the world, behind the US and China.
• The future consumption growth is expected to come from rich and densely populated cities and the thousands of developed rural towns.
• The report stated that India’s top 40 cities will form a USD 1.5 trillion opportunity by 2030, many thousands of small urban towns will also drive an equally large spend in aggregate.
• In parallel, it noted that there will be an opportunity to unlock nearly USD 1.2 trillion of spending in developed rural areas by improving infrastructure and providing access to organised and online retail.