World Bank Data: India becomes World’s Sixth

Largest Economy

The world’s largest democracy, India is on the road to gaining economic muscle
power. A federal republic with 29 states and 7 union territories, India is a fast
growing diverse economy. According to the updated figures released by the
World Bank for the year 2017, India is the sixth largest economy of the world.
This is a milestone for the Indian economy more so because it has successfully
surpassed France, which now holds the seventh position. The US is the world’s
highest ranked economy followed by China, Japan, Germany and UK.

About a decade ago the GDP of India was half of the GDP of France. However,
the size of the Indian economy has nearly doubled since then and is expected to
power ahead as a key economic engine. The Gross Domestic Product of India
increased by an average of 6.2%, that is an increase of 116.3% from 1.201 trillion
dollars in 2007 to 2.597 trillion dollars in 2017. On the other hand, the Gross
Domestic Product of France has reduced by 0.01% that is from 2.657 trillion
dollars in 2007 to 2.583 trillion dollars in 2017. According to the International
Monetary Fund, India is projected to generate a growth of 7.4 % this year and
7.8% in 2019, boosted by household spending and a tax reform.

India ranks 123rd in terms of its per capita income at Purchasing Power Parity,
amounting to 7060 dollars, while France is ranked 25th with per capita income
of 43,720 dollars. The Purchasing Power Parity is the true value of a country’s
currency vis-à-vis the dollar. It depicts the true picture of the relative
performance of different countries. India has a much lower Purchasing Power
Parity as compared to France owing to the difference in the size of its
population. The population of India stands at 1.34 billion while that of France is
67 million. This shows that India should have grown at a much faster pace and
at a greater scale to level some of the inequality in the levels of per capita
income.

The Indian economy had a strong rebound after slow down as a result of
demonetization. The rural and informal sectors of the economy suffered
disproportionately because of the cash crunch as a majority of their work is
based on liquid cash. Even today nearly 80% of our population is dependent on
the informal sector. Shortage of cash led to meant severe losses in their
employment and earnings. However, the economy started to revive and has had
a strong rebound since July 2017 but also suffered a huge loss of 1.5% of its GDP
growth rate. The manufacturing sector which contributed 17.4% to GDP in the
year 2012 increased its share to 18.1% in the year 2018. Significant
improvements have also been observed in the service sector whose
contribution to GDP increased from 18.9% in the year 2012 to 21.7% in 2018.

Union Minister Arun Jaitley said that if firm growth continues, India will soon
reach the fifth position in world rankings. The announcement also proved good
for the markets as benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty jumped 0.8 percent
and 0.7 percent respectively, while the rupee surged by 20 paise to end at a
one-week high of 68.57 per dollar.
India might have surpassed France in terms of its GDP rankings but is way
behind it in terms of its per capita income. There is still a long way to go before
it establishes itself as a global superpower. Even as it is gaining economic
power, India has to utilize its full potential to strengthen its weaker sectors.

Venturing into an Era of Opportunities:

Indo-European Business Forum announces
Event 2018

India and European Union are two of the world’s biggest economies, sharing
universal values and beliefs. The European Union is India’s largest trading
partner. With the objective of making India a world class manufacturing
powerhouse, many campaigns (like Make in India, Digital India) have been
undertaken by the Government of India. These campaigns have provided a
favourable opportunity to big business investors worldwide to invest in India’s
growing economy. The European Union is India’s number one trading partner.
Free Trade Agreement Negotiations were launched in the year 2007 to increase
bilateral trade and investments between the two.

In light of the above, Indo-European Business Forum has been organising events
on regular basis to facilitate the exchange of ideas among top corporate,
business leaders and eminent personalities from India and Europe. We believe
that India can offer strong and sustained business opportunities for European
Union countries. Hereby, we take pride in announcing the event 2018 on ‘Invest
in New India and strengthening India-European Union partnership and IEBF
Excellence Awards, 2018’.

The two day event is scheduled to be held on 2nd and 3rd November, 2018 in
London, with Dr Joseph Muscat, Prime minister of Malta as the Guest of
Honour. The event is also to be graced by the presence of eminent personalities
like Rt. Hon. Baroness Sandip Verma, Chairman of European External Affairs
Committee and former Minister of Energy and Climate Change and International
Development; Mr. Kapil Dev, former Indian cricketer and entrepreneur; Mr.
Vijay Sampla, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment; Mr. G.P.
Hinduja, Co-Chairman Hinduja Group; Mr. S.P. Lohia, Group Chairman of
Indorama Corporation; Mr. Anil Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta Resources and
many politicians, business leaders and professionals both from European Union
and India.

The complete schedule of the event is as follows:

2nd November, 2018

Event No. 1:

Agenda:- ‘Invest in New India and strengthening India-EU Partnership’

Timings:- 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM
Venue:- Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House of Parliament, London, UK
Event No. 2:

Agenda:- ‘IEBF Excellence Awards’

Timings:- 6:30 PM followed by Dinner from 7:30 PM onwards
Venue:- House of Lords, Westminster, London, UK
3rd November, 2018
Event No. 1:

Agenda:- Startup Incubation Program- Acceler8

Timings:- 3:00 PM to 5:30 PM
Venue:- St. James Court, Taj Hotel, Buckingham Gate, Westminster, London
SW1E 6AF, UK
Event No. 2:

Agenda:- Real Estate Exhibition ‘India Cityscape 2018’

Timings:- 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM followed by cocktail dinner from 8:30 onwards
Venue:- St. James Court, Taj Hotel, Buckingham Gate, Westminster, London
SW1E 6AF, UK
The agenda of the summit organized by IEBF strives to focus on the existing
trade relations between India and the member countries of the European
Union. The bilateral relationship between the two economies spans across
various areas including foreign policy, security issues, sustainable development,
modernisation, trade, and economics. India is a significant investment
destination owing to the economic reforms. It has attracted a lot of foreign
investment and moved towards the path of global integration. Foreign Direct
Investment inflows have increased by 37% with the launch of the Make in India
initiative. There has been a considerable improvement in the infrastructure
sector of the country, especially technological infrastructure. Efforts are being
made to make India a digital economy. Statistics show that there has been a
substantial and steady increase in EU27 trade, i.e., both exports and imports
have increased. In fact, trades have more than tripled since 2000. With its
young, skilled workforce; high growth rate and deregulation; India is set to
become a key destination for foreign investment.

Over the years, IEBF has been successfully organising business networking
meets, in both London and New Delhi, to bring investors and dignitaries from
both the economies on the same platform. Businesses networking meets held in
New Delhi, the administrative capital of the country, are a confluence of top
brains from the fields of business and finance and serve a good platform for
promoting trade co-operation. Similarly, business networking meets held in
London have witnessed high powered delegation from both the European Union
and India every year, enabling exchange of knowledge, ideas and expertise.
London is EU’s most competitive city to do business in, till Brexit of course. The
city provides best prospects for business development and innovative thinking
and has been adjudged as the most connected place to live in the world. It is
home to massive global brands like Morgan Stanley, KPMG, to name a few;
leading law firms; global banks and media agencies. These big brands are based
in the financial district of Canary Wharf Street, which is the biggest employer of
bankers and executives in Europe. Not only will an association with the Indian
market give them a new arena to explore, it will also be an enriching experience
for the Indian Companies who would get the much needed global exposure.

The summit intends to take on the challenge now to sustain the progressive
growth and strengthen the economic partnership between the EU and India,
thereby tapping into their full potential.