India’s young population will generate 30% of world’s wealth – stock exchange chief

Ashish Chauhan, CEO of the National Stock Exchange, set out India’s path towards a $30-trillion economy on RT’s ‘Let’s Talk Bharat’ show
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NSE CEO Ashish Chauhan told RT how the country’s youthful workforce gives it an edge over other big economies

India’s demographic dividend will see its economy account for a large proportion of new wealth generated globally over the coming decades, Ashish Chauhan, the managing director and CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), has told RT’s ‘Let’s Talk Bharat’ show.

“What is in India’s favor is, basically, the demographics,” Chauhan told RT host and internationally renowned actor Anupam Kher. He explained that the nation would “remain young”  for the next 40 or 50 years, while countries like China, Japan and even the US are growing older.

“China has become suddenly old because of the one-child policy. Japan is old, Europe is old,” said Chauhan. “America will become old if other people don’t [migrate].”

India, the world’s most populous nation, is home to around 600 million young people between the age of 18 and 35. Nearly 69% of its population will be of working age by 2030, which will result in the dependency rate plummeting.

The CEO of the NSE, which is one of the two main stock exchanges in the country, predicted that India would contribute 30% of the wealth that will be created globally in the next 25 to 50 years, and tech-savvy young people will be at the forefront of this process. 

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The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aiming to make India a developed economy with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $30 trillion by 2047, which will be the 100th anniversary of India’s independence from Britain. At present, India’s GDP is $3.7 trillion – the fifth-highest in the world after the US, China, Japan, and Germany. New Delhi expects to hit a GDP of $5 trillion, becoming the world’s third-largest economy, in the next three years.

Chauhan also praised the Modi-led government for its emphasis on reducing the digital divide and introducing welfare initiatives for financial inclusion. He cited several examples of progress in IT and communications networks, including the rapid development of 4G and 5G networks and schemes for financial inclusion.

He also lauded efforts made by the government to reduce poverty and hunger in the country. In November, the Indian government announced that it would provide free grain to around 810 million people under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) scheme for a period of five years from January 2024.

India was 111th of 125 countries on 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI), published by German NGO Welthungerhilfe and Irish Concern Worldwide. However, New Delhi has dismissed the report as “flawed.” 

According to Chauhan, the country has already taken care of the “existential problems of the poor.”

“The difference between a Pakistan, a Bangladesh, a Sri Lanka, and India post-Covid is Narendra Modi,” he said, praising the prime minister’s management of the fiscal deficit and welfare expenditure during times of crisis without “going bankrupt.”