Former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan believes that the youth of India today think that they are second to none, which he described to an audience in Washington DC, as a Virat Kohli mentality.
“Why aren't Indians innovating more? I think there are some. We don’t hear of them. A lot of Indian innovators now are going to Singapore or to Silicon Valley to set up because they find access to the final markets much easier there,” Rajan said at a conference on “Making India an Advanced Economy by 2047: What Will it Take” at the George Washington University in Washington DC on April 16.
“We need to ask what is it that forces them to go outside of India to set up rather than stay inside India? But even what is really heartwarming is talking to some of these entrepreneurs and seeing their desire to change the world and increasingly many of them are not happy staying in India,” Rajan said.
“They want to actually expand more globally. I think young India has a Virat Kohli mentality. I'm second to none in the world. When we will have Nvidia for our own. It'll take some time. But I think ambition is there amongst young,” Rajan said in response to a question.
India, he said, needs to focus on building human capabilities. “If it focuses on capabilities and doesn't try to micromanage too much where we are going, we will figure out where we are going and we will get there fast,” he said.
Democracy, he asserted, is a hugely important part of this. “Because it allows us to see when we are going off track. It allows people to see that the government, to monitor the government and to throw it out when it's going off track,” he said.
“The path India needs to take now is an untried path. And on this path, democracy is going to be very important. Democracy is not a luxury. It's actually an essential for the path that lies ahead, which is why I keep emphasizing we need our democracy,” Rajan said.
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