How Demographic dividend is crucial for India’s GDP Growth prospects
India's robust economic performance over the past decade, averaging over 7% GDP growth, is attributed to significant reforms. These include labor market deregulation, land record modernization, tax reforms, and improvements to insolvency and bankruptcy processes. Initiatives like the Foreign Trade Policy (2023), RoDTEP, and RoSCTL schemes
New Delhi: India's strong growth over the past decade comes from the robust economic performance anchored by the reforms, such as labour market reforms, modernisation of land records, tax reforms, the introduction of a regulatory regime for insolvency and bankruptcy, real estate regulation, and financial sector reforms. The Indian economy grew over seven percent (7%) over the past decade, 2014-2025, excluding COVID years, despite several geopolitical and geoeconomic disturbances.
Currently, the government is focusing on more infrastructure initiatives, deregulation reforms in several markets, skilling the workforce, and promoting female workforce participation. In this regard, state governments are playing their key roles and are coordinating with the central government.
Government Initiatives to boost GDP
In this regard, the government has adopted a range of measures to deal with the future risks and utilize the existing opportunities. By focusing more on domestic capacities, promoting exports, and diversifying supply chains, the government aims to enhance the overall economic output of the country. Several initiatives and policy measures that were undertaken by the government are:
- The Foreign Trade Policy, effective from April 01, 2023, is designed to integrate India more effectively into the global market and improve its trade competitiveness by exporting high-end export goods at competitive rates.
- The Rebate of State and Central Levies and Taxes (RoSCTL) Scheme is implemented to promote labour-oriented textile items for export.
- The Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) Scheme has been implemented since April 2021 to cover tariff lines. The scheme currently covers 10642 tariff lines, and the budget allocation for the said scheme is Rs 18232 crore.
- Common digital platform for certificate of origin to facilitate trade and increase FTA utilisation.
India's Demographic Dividend
The demographic dividend of India presents a golden opportunity for India to boost and grow its GDP growth. The working-age population is expected to rise from current levels of 735 million to 988 million in 2036. The current working age is approximately 64 percent of the total population, and for the upcoming 10 years, the percentage is set to remain the same.
To harness its demographic dividend, India must strengthen education, healthcare, and skill development while prioritizing employment generation in labour-intensive sectors and increasing women’s workforce participation. Programs like Mission Shakti, Namo Drone Didi, and Lakhpati Didi aim to enhance women’s economic empowerment. Complementing these efforts, the Make in India initiative seek to revitalize manufacturing, generate large-scale employment especially for semi-skilled and unskilled workers.