New Delhi. Speaking at a programme at the Delhi School of Economics, IMF deputy managing director Gita Gopinath said India is lagging behind in terms of job creation among G-20 nations. She said India needs to create 148 million additional jobs by 2030 given the population growth. In the decade starting 2010, India’s average growth rate was 6.6 per cent but the employment rate was less than 2 per cent. So a lot of jobs will have to be created in a short time.
She said that private investment needs to be increased to create more jobs as it is not in line with the seven percent growth in GDP. However, public investment is going well. She said that India should improve its education system, so that a skilled workforce can be prepared. More reforms needed to stay on the path of growth Gita Gopinath said that India will need more reforms to stay on the path of increasing economic growth and to ensure adequate employment generation in the country.
He said that if India wants to play an important role in the global supply chain, it will need to reduce import duties. The government has carried out significant reforms in the last few years. Gopinath said that achieving developed country status is a tremendous aspiration, but it is not automatic. To achieve this, continuous, coherent efforts are required on a large scale in many areas.
He said India is similar to other developing countries where most of the tax revenue collected is indirect tax and not direct tax. We are also advising other developing countries to broaden the personal income tax base so that more income can be obtained from there.
