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Eight Steps to a Developed Economy
As the year turns, we are ringing out the old and ringing in the new at a time of great tumult. The established multilateral trading order anchored by the WTO is breaking down, and global supply chains are being reconfigured even as India faces among the most extreme tariffs imposed globally by the Trump administration. Historically, however, it is precisely at such crunch times that India has reformed, setting the stage for enhanced economic performance going forward. The Convergence Foundation's (TCF) portfolio is working on some key reform ideas that have the potential of propelling India to developed status by 2047. Here are eight big agenda items that we believe deserve to be taken up in mission mode in 2026. First, we need an ambitious National Manufacturing Mission that integrates with global value chains and prioritises jobs, leveraging India’s advantages in low-cost labour. For this, we need to unlock exports in labour-intensive sectors. Adapting the template that was used to draw in Apple to produce iPhones in India for export, India should attract 50 marquee brands across labour-intensive sectors such as apparel, footwear, furniture, toys, tools, machinery, and electronics – a strategy that will ramp up high-quality manufacturing, growth, and jobs. 85% of brain development occurs before the age of six, and those born today will be entering the labour force circa 2047. To ensure that India has the human capital of a developed nation, it is as necessary today to build out its ‘soft’ infrastructure in the form of nurseries, creches, and schools that impart foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) by the time children reach Class 3, as it is to boost ‘hard’ infrastructure such as highways and ports.
