India must rapidly urbanise over next two decades: Arun Jaitley

He said that over the next two decades, urban population will substantially increase from the current 31%

Rapid urbanisation is a must, to meet the challenge of an ever-expanding population and jobs for youths, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

“Over the next two decades, India will have to go in for this. It has already started happening with satellite towns and urban centres coming up around larger cities,” he said at an event here on Thursday. “Today, we have 31 per cent of the population in urban areas and over the next two decades, the figure is going to substantially increase. When it does, we will see urban India become the nerve centre of growth.”

He was speaking at a forum on urbanisation and its challenges, organised by the Asian Development Bank and the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.

The minister said management of scarce resources like water would remain a challenge. On the global economic situation, he said: “Did anyone have an idea how long this (the scale of the present problem) will last and what is really the way out? People have spoken in generalities, saying we must use all tools, monetary or fiscal, and structural changes. But, when these generics are converted into specifics, I find a lack of ideas.” The situation in Asia was better than elsewhere, he said. “There is a lot of growth potential here, and that’s why, decisively, the Asian potential growth rate is much higher than the global growth rate,” he felt.