Emerging as a bright spot in the world economy, India is set to be a $10 trillion economy by 2030. Given the robustness of its institutions, the resilience of its policy frameworks, and the reforms initiated by the government, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said India would continue to be a favoured investment destination.

Stating that the size of the economy is expected to touch $5 trillion soon, further doubling to $10 trillion by 2030, Naidu said Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is expected to rise to $75 billion over the next five years, citing a report by UBS.

The Vice-President was delivering the inaugural address at the CII Partnership Summit in Mumbai, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in association with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Maharashtra government.

Assuring of continuing the reforms and the ease of doing business, Naidu said, "The mood of the people is clear. People want growth, development, peace, progress and reforms."

With India's GDP set to cross the $5 trillion mark soon, other dignitaries who spoke on the occasion pointed to the growing interest from multinationals.

Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department Of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry said from 2014-15, the country received $222 billion as FDI. In 2018, India received $40 billion as FDI.

Speaking about the unprecedented wealth creation in the country and great opportunities ahead, Abhishek highlighted the start-up movement in the country "as a singular great opportunity for investment. Our innovative, dynamic, young entrepreneurs are part of the third largest eco-system of start-ups in the world," and the increased attention and collaboration from the international community validates it, he said.

DIPP has recognised 14,036 start-ups as of November 2018. As many as 8,993 start-ups were recognised in 2018 alone.

Complimenting the Indian government for its "extremely robust engagement in international Intellectual Property systems", Director General of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation), Francis Gurry said, "India has become a leading voice" in the global arena.

India's emphasis on innovation also came in for high praise from Gurry, who said, "Innovation is the basis of competition. India is now the fifth largest economy behind the US, China, Japan and Germany on the basis of its innovation. This is significant because the demand worldwide for IPR has consistently outperformed the world economy over the last decade."

Pointing to the increased demand for filing patent applications, Gurry said "two-thirds of those applications worldwide are now coming out of Asia, which is a remarkable transformation as it shows competition has intensified and become multi polar."

Adding a note of caution, corporate chief Vikram Kirloskar said global economic growth is set to gradually slow down over the next two years, after peaking in 2018.

"One of the main reasons behind this loss of momentum is the increasing protectionistic rhetoric on trade, which weighs on future business decisions. The focus must be brought back on maintaining free and open international borders," he said.

Noting that "increased macro economic stability, strong fiscal benefits over time, the positive impact of GST, ease of doing business, the launch of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, FDI liberalisation and many other key reforms will contribute positively to the fundamentals of the Indian economy," Kirloskar said India is expected to be among the top three economies over the next 10-15 years.

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