India Poised To Become Third Largest Economy: Consul General In Shanghai

India is uniquely positioned to emerge as a global economic powerhouse, potentially overtaking Germany to become the world's third-largest economy, according to Pratik Mathur, India's Consul General in Shanghai. Speaking at the annual Consul Generals and CEOs Business Forum in Shanghai on Friday, Mr Mathur said India is primed to benefit from the next Industrial Revolution and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.

“It's a great time to be in Asia, especially India,” Mr Mathur said, addressing an audience of business leaders and diplomats. “We are the world's largest and fastest-growing democracy, with a significant population from the lower to middle class that is educated, aspirational, and hungry for consumption.”

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CG @PratikMathur1 today participated in the annual Consul Generals and CEOs Business Forum in Shanghai and spoke about the innovation and investment opportunities offered by the 🇮🇳 Growth Story.

There was large scale interest amongst the… pic.twitter.com/sW4i6rlJ5B

— India In Shanghai (@IndiaInShanghai) June 6, 2025

In a speech later published on the Consulate's official website, Mr Mathur noted that India's current GDP, estimated at USD 4 trillion, is projected to grow nearly eightfold to USD 30 trillion by 2047. He emphasised that this trajectory is bolstered by India's demographic advantage, with a large and youthful population forming the backbone of its economic potential.

Mr Mathur attributed this rapid growth to a combination of policy initiatives and structural reforms, particularly the government's ‘Make in India' campaign launched in 2014. The initiative aims to position India as a global manufacturing hub through a suite of incentives, including concessional loans, tax rebates, and the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

India is now ensuring that its manufacturing sector can compete on a global scale, Mr Mathur said. He pointed to sectors such as mobile phone manufacturing, automotive, steel, pharmaceuticals, and food processing as areas of growing strength. “The results are already visible. India is now the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world after China, having shipped over 2 billion devices between 2014 and 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23%.”

Highlighting the improvement in India's business environment, Mr Mathur noted that the country has climbed 80 spots in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index in recent years. 

He said that the recent measures taken by the government are indeed revolutionary, promoting indigenisation efforts in ship building, private participation in nuclear power sector, while at the same time underscored the government's efforts to boost domestic consumption by offering tax relief to India's burgeoning middle class — currently estimated at 400 million people and regarded as one of the largest globally. 

Concluding his remarks on an optimistic note, Mr Mathur said: “It is not only India's decade — it is India's century.”