Davos:

World Economic Forum President Borge Brende told NDTV in an exclusive interview today that India is currently seeing “rapid growth” and could perhaps become a “US$10 trillion economy” in a decade. Speaking to NDTV from Davos, where the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is underway, Mr Brende compared India’s growth story to a snowball that ‘gets bigger and bigger’ once pushed.

“We hope things will continue with reforms, peace, no conflict, transparency, fight against red tape, investment, R&D and infrastructure,” he told NDTV.

Asked what could be the key drivers for Indian growth in the coming days, he said what is working for India now is that it is “located in areas where demand is higher than other areas.” grows rapidly…India is taking advantage of it”. ,

Drawing a contrast with the Chinese economy, which is entirely based on manufacturing, Mr Brende said India needs to focus its attention on its services industry, digital trade and e-commerce.

He said, while digital trade accounts for only 15 percent of the global economy, it grows twice as fast as any other trade sector.

But while India is an “incredibly successful economy at the moment”, it needs to continue reforms, Mr Brende pointed out, because “there is no such thing as a free lunch”.

Asked whether border tensions with China were a matter of concern, Mr Brende said everyone was watching it “very closely”.

“But I don’t think there is any interest on the Indian or Chinese side in taking it forward because that would be very unfortunate.”

The WEF’s annual report focuses on the many challenges the world faces today – including ongoing conflicts with war and rising costs of living, and the growing effects of climate change.