India on course to becoming 3rd-largest economy: Panelists

Bengaluru: Only three Indian leaders have been invited to the US for a ‘state visit’, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi being the latest. While many see this as ascendance of India’s stature globally, experts gathered for a model G20 summit at School of Sciences, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) here opined that the country is moving fast to become one of the top three economies of the world, commanding much more respect in global affairs.Country’s changing foreign policy and its impactN Parthasarathi, a veteran diplomat and former Indian Foreign Service officer, who was part of the expert panel at JAIN, narrated the journey of India from being a newborn democracy, adamant on achieving self-sufficiency and protecting domestic interests to opening up for global trade and claiming high capitalist ranks in today’s world. “A state visit is a formal invitation to the head of one state from another. This has been extended to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan when he was President of India and in 2009 to Manmohan Singh when he was PM. Now, we got the invite again. It is a matter to be proud of because it’s not often that the most powerful country in the globe invites and hosts heads of developing nations,” Parthasarathi stated.To illustrate the meaning of a ‘multi aligned foreign policy’, Parthasarathi used the example of how the Indian government was able to successfully evacuate thousands of medical students from Ukraine without terming the Russian government an aggressor, maintaining diplomatic ties with both countries. India respected for its potential, not pastSandeep Gupta, entrepreneur and co-founder of BHIVE, stated India is very well-respected today not for its past glory or pre-historic/pre-colonial riches, but for the potential it holds. “We are growing at a speed where we can see ourselves become the third-largest economy, surpassing Germany and Japan in a few years. Economies are built on innovation and startups are essential for that. India has the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem with 60,000-plus startups,” Gupta said.