India will soon be a $5 trillion economy, says Modi at BRICS business forum

New Delhi, Aug 22: Addressing the BRICS Business Forum Leaders' Dialogue in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that despite global challenges, India has emerged as the fastest growing economy and will soon become a $5 trillion economy.

"Despite a shaky world economy, India has emerged as the world's fastest-growing major economy. India will soon become $5 trillion economy," Modi said in his address.

"In 2009, when the first BRICS summit was held, the world was coming out of a big economic crisis. At that time, BRICS had emerged as a ray of hope for the world economy," he noted.

India has the world's third largest startup ecosytem with over 100 unicorns, the Prime Minister informed the gathering, adding that with mission mode reforms, and ease of doing business has improved in the country.

"India will become the growth engine for the world in the coming years as investor confidence has increased after the implementation of GST and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in the country.

"Defence and space sectors have been opened for the private sector and with the use of technology, we have taken a leap in financial inclusion.Today, UPI is being used by street vendors to those in shopping malls... We are actively taking steps to make India a manufacturing hub in the areas of solar energy, wind energy, electric vehicles and green hydrogen," Modi highlighted.

Earlier in his address at the forum, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa said that Africa is focusing on women's empowerment.

"We in Africa, as we seek to grow and develop, are focusing on the empowerment of the women of our continent who have been held back through years of colonialism, and in our case through the years of apartheid through protocols and laws. We need to free the women of our continent so that they can trade, be in business and to grow the economies of our various countries," he said.

"We require a fundamental reform of the global financial institutions so that they can be more agile and responsive to the challenges facing developing economies," Ramaphosa added.