Export-led growth very critical for good jobs in India: Arvind Panagariya

India needs to grow at 8-10 per cent annually if good jobs have to be provided to those joining the workforce, eminent economist Arvind Panagariya has said, emphasising that the country must return to an export-led economy to generate employment with higher salaries.

Panagariya, who served as the first Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog from January 2015 to August 2017, underscored that for trade to grow, the country has to be open.

As tariffs are going up on many different items, he said the "whole idea of turning back to import substitution turns the clock back (for India). It is on the back of trade liberalisation and very rapid export expansion during the 2000s onwards that the (Indian) economy really began to grow at this very rapid rate."
He further emphasised that by increasing exports, imports will also automatically grow "because the whole point of exporting is so that you will import in return."