Brahmos_2
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NEW DELHI: The next 10 years could be India's decade and it is likely to beat even China in terms of growth, Boston Consulting Group chairman Hans-Paul Burkner said.
"I think there is no reason why India should not go back to 7% growth. I think if India unleashes its full potential, it can grow faster than China. China's growth rate will still be 6.5-7%, which is still very good," he said.
But India needs to open up its economy. "It requires significant investments in people, education skills, infrastructure and significant deregulation. It is a much-regulated market and its bureaucracy pushes papers around without really getting to decisions, which frustrates a lot of people," Burkner, 61, said in an exclusive interview with ET. He hoped that the new regime under Prime Minister Narendra Modi will work towards changing this perception.
The Indian government has been making policy changes, pushing to get projects stuck in red tape moving again and trying to boost investor sentiment as it seeks to revive an economy that has slumped to decadal low rates of growth.
Burkner said this decade would also see the rise of global Indian companies as they cross borders for acquisitions. On the other hand, a lot of companies globally are also waiting to enter India to tap into its demand as well as for its people. "We see more and more R&D centres, IT centres, and also more factories here. Ultimately, people want to build businesses here to export from India," he said.
While Burkner was enthused by the Prime Minister's recent announcements about a vision for local manufacturing in India and a stress on the 'make-in-India' tag, he pointed out that getting permissions to set up businesses in India are a bit of a concern.
"To establish things here you need to have land, permissions from various agencies. If you have to deal with local, state and federal agencies, and there are dozens of them, and if everybody creates problems then that will be a challenge," he said. "And so are the labour laws. They need to become flexible."
BCG works with several governments and on many socially relevant initiatives through its social impact initiative. At the global level, it works with the World Food Programme,the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Save the Children, Teach for All and WWF ( World Wide Fund for Nature) and also with several government bodies.
If India unleashes its full potential, it can grow faster than China: Hans-Paul Bürkner, Chairman BCG - The Economic Times
