Pathways to a Viksit Bharat

India must build stronger institutions and a more inclusive growth strategy to avoid falling into the middle-income trap

The Government of India in 2022 set itself the goal of a “Viksit Bharat” (Advanced India). The Prime Minister referred to it again during the recent opening of the new Parliament and in the latest meeting of the NITI Aayog. I am thrilled with this goal because my co-author and I suggested a similar vision of a “Samrudhha and Sajit Bharat @100” (Prosperous and Inclusive India @100) in our book, Unshackling India: Clear Choices and Hard Truths for Economic Revival.

But what does it mean to become a “Viksit Bharat”? While the size of the economy is important for many reasons,