Abstract

Clocking growth of 6-7%, India is the world’s fastest growing large economy today. Currently the fifth largest in the world by way of GDP, the country is expected to overtake Japan and Germany to jump to the third spot in the next 2-3 years. There is much speculation that Prime Minister Modi who is campaigning for a third five year term will deliver widespread prosperity. Yet there are many questions. Can India sustain the current growth momentum? Can it be the next China? Will business as usual do or will it have to invent a new growth model? What role will India’s federalism play in this growth journey?  What opportunities and challenges do geopolitics pose to India’s growth aspirations?

About the Speaker

Duvvuri Subbarao served as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India for five years (2008-13). Prior to that, he was Finance Secretary to the Government of India (2007-08) and Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (2005-07).

As a career civil servant in India for over three decades and as a lead economist in the World Bank for five years, Subbarao acquired vast hands-on experience in public finance management.

Subbarao holds a Masters Degree in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He studied Economics at the Ohio State University and later at MIT. He has a PhD in Economics from the Andhra University.

After stepping down from the Reserve Bank, Subbarao has been a Visiting Felow at several universities around the world including the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University.