- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Prof P L Joshi
EVER since the Narendra Modi government took control of the Indian economy in 2014, there have been noticeable improvements in the country’s growth, GDP and technology. The primary four economic sectors of the Indian economy — digital economy, green economy, care economy and industry 4.0 economy — are transforming, making it the fifth-largest strong economy in the world today. Because of the government’s clear positive policies in these sectors, the goal of this article is to assess the current scenario and developments that are occurring in these segments in recent years.
Recent developments have made the “green economy” a significant idea on the global sustainable development agenda. India’s tremendous expansion over the previous ten years has increased job opportunities and raised living standards.
Its impressive growth record is, however, constrained by a deteriorating environment and running out of natural resources, necessitating significant efforts to establish a green and decarbonised economy.
Additionally, as per the 2020 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), India is ranked 169 out of 180 countries, indicating it lags in green growth. Therefore, India must switch to a circular economy since COVID-19 has made customers more interested in a greener economy.
It has been asserted that India is likely to become one of the world leaders in green growth very soon, with its value predicted to rise to $1 trillion in 2030 and $15 trillion by 2070. India is leading various projects in the fields of energy production, transportation, and manufacturing while also having an impact on the global narrative on green growth. Furthermore, significant policy changes like the Production-
Linked Incentives (PLI) programmes are expected to increase domestic production of green goods. A record-breaking $14.5 billion was invested in renewable energy in India in just FY22 alone, a 125 per cent increase over FY21.
India has a special opportunity to influence the course of green growth globally thanks to its emphasis on sustainable living through the ‘Lifestyle for Environment. India” has a special opportunity to influence the course of green growth globally thanks to its emphasis on sustainable living through the “Lifestyle for Environment,” the Mission, ‘Panchamrit, and the Modi government’s effective plans to target net-zero emissions by 2070 and a reduction of one billion metric tonnes of carbon emissions by 2030.
India has taken a significant step towards reiterating its dedication to renewable energy and letting the world know about its upcoming plan to address climate change. The prime minister unveiled the ‘Panchamrit” five-pronged climate change strategy at the COP26 session in Glasgow in 2021.
According to a 2023 analysis by JPMorgan, India’s green growth will be led by renewable energy, waste management, electric vehicles, sustainable textiles, and green construction, which will also provide the most green jobs, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas.
According to the reports, India might create 35 million green jobs by 2047. The talent ecosystem will be steadily and fairly improved, ensuring a just transition that doesn’t leave any disadvantaged groups behind. Training and skill development for labourers and business owners are based on the adoption of green skills in employment and enterprises.
According to India’s ministry of new and renewable energy, the country had 120.85 GW of installed renewable energy capacity as of December 31st, 2022. In terms of the whole mix of renewable energy, solar energy makes up around 52 per cent, followed by wind at 35 per cent, bio-power at nine per cent and small hydro at four per cent.
India is ranked fourth in the world for the production of solar energy, fourth for wind energy, fifth for bioenergy, and sixth for green hydrogen in 2021.
India’s ability to lessen its reliance on the resources needed to sustain economic growth over time while improving social justice and creating jobs will determine the extent to which India achieves green growth. Green growth may be crucial for balancing these demands.
With the increasing adoption of smartphones, improved internet access, and the government’s push towards a digital economy, India has undergone a tremendous digital change in recent years. It has created enormous prospects for economic growth in a number of different economic sectors.
India’s government launched the Digital India plan in July 2015 with the goal of transforming the country into a knowledge-based economy with strong digital capabilities.
According to Modi, the goal of Digital India is to improve the lives of ordinary people. Also to develop India in a learning future and involves various government departments.
The broader mission is to establish better connections between citizens and the government via e-services and deliver government services in a cost-effective and transparent manner. Additionally, the motto of the Digital India Mission is ‘Power to Empower’. There are three core components to the Digital India initiative. They are digital infrastructure creation, digital delivery of services, and digital literacy. The objectives are:
1. To provide high-speed internet in all gramme panchayats.
2. To provide easy access to the Common Service Centre (CSC) in all localities.
3. Digital India is an initiative that combines a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision so that each of them is seen as part of a larger goal.
4. The Digital India Programme also focuses on restructuring many existing schemes that can be implemented in a synchronised manner.
The Digital India programme has nine pillars, such as universal access to Mobile connectivity, Broadband Highways, public Internet access, e-government, e-Kranti, Global Information, Electronics Manufacturing, IT Training for Jobs, and Early Harvest programmes.
The initiative of this programme also encompasses plans to connect rural areas of the country with high-speed internet networks. The Public Internet Access Programme is one of the nine pillars of digital India. On the platform of digital adoption, India ranks among the top two countries globally, and it stands top in the world in terms of digital transactions.
The government of India has taken an initiative through the Digital India Mission to connect the rural areas of the country with high-speed internet networks. Apart from the various initiatives taken by MeitY under the Digital India programme across the country, they include:
● BHIM – Bharat Interface for Money is an app that uses the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to make payments simple, easy, and rapid.
● E-hospitals – A hospital management information system (HMIS) is what it is. Up till February 2021, 420 e-Hospitals had been built as part of the Digital India initiative.
●E-Pathshala – Through the website and mobile applications, it displays and disseminates all educational e-resources, such as textbooks, audio, video, magazines, etc.
●Digi-Lockers- By giving the citizen’s digital document wallet access to genuine digital papers, it attempts to “Digitally Empower” the individual.
The Digital India initiative has had an impact in many areas since its launch in 2015. It has considerably reduced the distance between Government and citizens.
Approximately 12,000 post office branches in rural areas have electronic connections. The country’s economy is benefiting from improvements in online infrastructure. The Make in India project has strengthened the electronic manufacturing industry in India. Experts believe that Digital India might increase GDP by more than $1 trillion by 2025–2026,
By encouraging the establishment of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) operations by offering financial support of up to 1 lakh per year, the government launched the India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) and the North East BPO Promotion Scheme (NEBPS) under the Digital India programme with the aim of creating employment opportunities and dispersing the Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) industry in small cities and towns. Two-hundred and forty-six BPO/ITES units operating under IBPS and NEBPS have begun operations, covering 27 states and UTs, and are currently directly employing more than 51,584 people.
Further, due to the rising number of Indians who have access to the internet, e-commerce in particular has grown tremendously in recent years. This industry has enormous potential to continue growing. The financial industry has also been greatly impacted by digitalisation, which has made internet transactions easier. Financial inclusion has improved and economic growth has been fuelled by the adoption of digital financial services by more people.
India’s digital revolution is supported by significant private sector investments. With more than 60,000 firms, India boasts the third-largest start-up environment worldwide. As of May 31, 2023, India is home to 108 unicorns with a total valuation of $340.80 billion.
It may be noted that the activities and interactions that go into meeting the physical, psychological, and emotional needs of adults, kids, the old, the young, the frail, and the physically fit are referred to as the “care economy”.
Care economy, also known as purple economy, according to the United Nations, is a new economic paradigm that acknowledges the value of caregiving, women’s empowerment, and autonomy for the health of economies, societies, and the sustainability of life. Care employment consists of two overlapping tasks that may be compensated or uncompensated: 2) indirect care activities or domestic chores, such as cooking and cleaning; and 1) direct, personal, and relational care activities, such as feeding a baby or nursing a sick partner.
According to the International Laour Organisation, India spent less than one per cent of of its GDP on the care industry in 2022; increasing this ratio will have several benefits for both workers and the economy as a whole. Recent months have seen a number of difficulties for workers, both at work and at home.
After losing their jobs, many people found it difficult to sustain their families and find new jobs. Some people lost a friend or a family member. Additionally, the public sector spends less than one per cent of the GDP on care infrastructure, such as pre-primary education, child care facilities, and maternity, disability, and sickness benefits, despite the fact that women’s unpaid work in India accounts for 3.1 per cent of the country’s GDP. According to M Chatterjee and K Mishra (Decan Herald, May 1, 2023), employment opportunities in the care sector are predicted to improve in the future due to the anticipated growth of India’s senior population.
India must make significant investments in the care economy in order to build the infrastructure and services necessary to ensure that the post-Covid recovery is equitable and gender inclusive, including long-term care, maternity, disability, and illness benefits, and pre-primary education. The Indian government must adhere to the six Cs, which are crucial for providing health and social care in India: care, compassion, competence, communication, courage, and commitment.
The All India annual Net National Income (NNI) per capita for the years 2014–15 and 2022–23, respectively, is Rs 86,647 and Rs 1,72,000 at current prices, demonstrating success in this regard). It indicates that under the Modi administration, India’s per capita income has doubled. Additionally, this shows that the Modi administration has launched a number of care economy programmes in an effort to improve the nation’s provision of assistance to those in need. The following are some of the important schemes of the Indian Government for improving the care economy in the country:
· The scheme “Pradhan Mantri Dakshta Aur Kushalta Sampann Hitgrahi (PM-DAKSH)” was introduced by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment with the objective of economic empowerment and upliftment through the training of marginalised target groups: Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Economically Backward Classes (EBCs), De-Notified, Nomadic, and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (DNTs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), and Safai Karamcharis (Sanitation Workers), including Waste Pickers.
· Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY): PMJDY accounts are eligible for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), and the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Bank (MUDRA) scheme.
· Ayushman Bharat Yojana (ABY): The National Health Authority (NHA)’s flagship programme offers 12 crore (120 million) beneficiary families health insurance of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.
· Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY): This urban programme primarily meets the housing needs of the urban underprivileged. The programme also meets the housing needs of slum residents, who live in cramped quarters in slums with poor infrastructure, sanitation, and drinking options. 122.69 Lakh houses have been sanctioned and 60.15 lakh houses have been completed by June 2022.
· Atal Pension Yojana (APY): In order to provide a universal social security system for all Indians, particularly the poor, the underprivileged, and workers in the unorganised sector, the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) was introduced in 2015. The number of beneficiaries rose by 28.46 per cent from 352.97 lakh in March 2022 to 453.42 lakh in March 2023.
· Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA): Under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the Indian Government has launched a new scheme under SBA. The new scheme, termed Pradhan Mantri Sauchalay Yojana (PMSY), is a scheme that is more focused on constructing toilets for free in various houses that lack the facility of toilets in their homes. Over 11 crore toilets (110 million) and 2.23 lakh (0.2 million) community sanitary complexes were built across all states and union territories under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA).
· National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM): The mission of the NRLM is expansive. It aspires to connect all of the rural poor families (BPL families) with opportunities for sustainable lives. It supports them until they are free from poverty and have a respectable standard of living.
· Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY): Families living below the poverty line are given access to five million LPG connections. The programme offers BPL households financial assistance of Rs. 1600 for each LPG connection. This support’s administrative expenses are covered by the government.
· Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY): Since January 1, 2023, more than 80 crore (80 million) impoverished people have been receiving free food grains through the integrated food security programme of the Central Government of India.
· National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS): It prioritises women, senior citizens, and children in India. Under the Ayushman Bharat NHPS, Indian citizens are offered health coverage of Rs 5 Lakh. Moreover, it provides over 50 crore (500 million) Indian residents with affordable medical services.
According to a press release, from 2019, all visitors to public health facilities at the sub-district and district levels can access the 33 NHM-launched initiatives for free. Furthermore, all residents of the service area are entitled to free and universal service at Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs).
Under programmes like Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN), the Health Minister’s Cancer Patient Fund (HMCPF), and the Health Minister’s Discretionary Grant (HMDG), money is also given to patients with life-threatening illnesses who are below the poverty line.
For secondary and tertiary hospitalisation care, the other component, the AB-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), offers free and cashless care to nearly 500 million poor and disadvantaged people.
According to the Economic Survey 2022–23, India’s national and state governments allocated 2.1 per cent of GDP for healthcare in FY23 and 2.2 per cent in FY22, compared to 1.6 per cent in FY21. Furthermore, According to the survey, the rise in the proportion of health spending in overall social service spending, from 21 per cent in FY19 to 26 per cent in FY23 (BE), highlights the growing significance of public healthcare and social security in ensuring universal health coverage.
The allocation of expenditures to the social services sector increased from 2020–21 to 2021–22 by 9.8 per cent, according to the Economic Survey for 2021–22. The combined amount that the Centre and State governments allocated for spending on the social service sector in (budget estimated) 2021–2022 was Rs 71.61 lakh crore, or 8.6 per cent of India’s GDP. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the expenditure went up significantly.
In addition, it is asserted that despite a rise in the availability of smartphones from 36.5 per cent in 2018 to 67.6 per cent in 2021, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) research claims that lower-grade students found it more challenging to complete online activities than students in higher grades. Children experienced obstacles such as network connectivity troubles and a lack of child-accessible smart phones. However, textbooks for their present grade have been given to nearly all enrolled pupils (91.9 per cent). For kids enrolled in public and private schools, this percentage has risen over the past years.
Due to today’s advanced technologies, the fourth industrial revolution is rapidly approaching, and India is getting ready to adopt it. Artificial intelligence, the internet of things, big data, and other recent technical innovations will completely alter the landscape of the current industry. Industry 4.0 aims to reduce costs and waste while increasing the productivity, adaptability, and efficiency of industrial processes.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the key elements of Industry 4.0. It gives machines the ability to reason, learn, and make decisions. It is anticipated that AI will significantly
alter the space sector as well. Factories will become smart factories, towns will become smart cities, automobiles will become smart cars, and houses will become smart homes when IOT and AI are combined. If this occurs, it will lessen the need for human labour.
Technological experts believe that by bringing operational efficiency to manufacturing sectors like automotive, electrical, and electronics, Industry 4.0 has the potential to revolutionise the manufacturing sector in India.
The manufacturing industry, which can foster innovation and job creation in addition to economic growth, is one of India’s greatest opportunities. The government of India projects that by 2025, manufacturing production will account for 25 per cent of India’s GDP rather than the present 16 per cent.
To do this, smart manufacturing must be adopted, and “Make in India” must be integrated with Industry 4.0’s core concepts. Additionally, the advent of Industry 4.0 technology will revolutionise the economy and help firms boost India’s financial standing in the post-COVID age. Businesses’ usage of AI will be essential for the Indian economy to recover after the pandemic.
As a result of Industry 4.0, imports of produced goods have significantly decreased, while imports of engineering products from India have increased. The industrialisation of management and technical capabilities also improved operational effectiveness.
The Indian economy will undergo a paradigm shift as a result of the digital revolution. With the help of public-private partnerships, advantageous government policies, innovative reforms, a demographic advantage, rising incomes, and the development of India’s start-up culture, India may become the nation with the fastest-growing digital economy.
While a green economy could increase the production of renewable energy, reducing the dependency on fossil fuels in the economy. The nation is rapidly converting to a gas-based economy.
In addition to helping India achieve its Sustainable Development Goals, investments in the care economy look to be a quickly expanding sector with inclusive growth.
Industry 4.0 technology would not only be paradigm-shifting but also contribute to the economic recovery by 2025, helping companies to boost India’s financial position in the post-COVID era. Among the cutting-edge technologies that are expected to have a substantial impact on India’s economic growth and prosperity are blockchain, big data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced manufacturing, quantum computing, artificial intelligence (AI), etc.
The opinion expressed in this piece are the author’s own.
