India emerges as beacon of growth, to remain fastest growing major economy: ITC chairman

New Delhi: India has emerged as a "beacon of growth" at a time when the world is grappling with serious issues affecting growth across all major economies, said ITC Chairman Sanjiv Puri.

In his address to shareholders in the company's annual general meeting, Puri said the country is buoyed by optimism and deeply engaged in realising that promise, striding on the pathways of clearly enunciated goals and policies.

"What is remarkable is that such an outlook pervades at a time when the world is grappling with serious issues affecting growth across all major economies. In this environment of poly-crisis and uncertainty, India has emerged as a beacon of growth and will remain the fastest-growing major economy in the world this year," he said.

Puri said India's resilient growth is a testament to the slew of policy measures unleashed by the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Some major policy initiatives include tripling of public capex, best-in-class public digital infrastructure, the PLI scheme to attract private investment in focus sectors, establishing strong Farmer Producer Organisations supported by a multi-stakeholder integrated agri-stack to empower farmers, targeted welfare spending leading to impactful delivery of grassroots benefits; and many more," he said.

The progressive policy environment together with favourable demographics and India's growing stature on the world stage have led to heightened interest in leveraging India as a global hub for manufacturing, services and exports, Puri said.

Stressing that it is being widely acknowledged that this is India's moment, he said, "India's large and growing consuming market is expected to fuel higher growth, and estimates suggest that India's middle class would cross 1 billion people by 2047, accounting for 61 per cent of our population, up from about 31 per cent today." However, he said while the potential is almost limitless, "we are not immune to the adverse impact of several global crises including climate emergency, persisting inflation, supply chain disruptions, muted demand conditions in some major economies and the impact of geo-political dynamics".

"The climate crisis represents an existential threat and in the short term, the impact of El Nino remains a key monitorable. Further, despite moderating inflation, key commodity prices remain elevated and volatile, adding to the magnitude of external risks," he said.

In such an uncertain environment, Puri said, "the Indian economy demonstrated resilience, reporting robust growth while simultaneously unshackling its latent potential towards realising the vision of Amrit Kaal".