Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said India would achieve near doubling of per capita income in the next five years.

She also said the country will witness the steepest rise in living standards of the common man in coming decades aided by structural reforms undertaken by the government in the past 10 years.

Addressing the third edition of Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi, she said, India’s critical economic performance in the recent decade was underscored by its leapfrog from the 10th to the fifth largest economy in a matter of five years.

“The upcoming decades will see the steepest rise in living standards for the common man, truly making it a period-defining era for an Indian to live in. This is being achieved with declining inequality, as the Gini coefficient (measures income inequality in nations) for rural India declined from 0.283 to 0.266, and for urban areas it declined from 0.363 to 0.314,” she said.

“While it took us 75 years to reach a per capita income of USD 2,730, as per IMF projections, it will take only five years to add another USD 2,000. The upcoming decades will see the steepest rise in living standards for the common man, truly making it a period-defining era for an Indian to live in,” the minister added.

FM Sitharaman said India’s creditable economic performance was underscored by its leapfrog from the 10th to the 5th largest economy in a matter of 5 years, and its maintained inflation.

By 2047, as India crosses the 100-year mark of independence, she said, the new Indian era will have core characteristics similar to developed countries.

Viksit Bharat will usher prosperity not just to Indians but to the rest of the world by becoming central to a vibrant exchange of ideas, technology, and culture, she added.

The minister believed that the consumption will organically rise over the coming decade.

“As of now, 43 per cent of Indians are younger than 24 years old, and they have yet to explore their consumption behaviour fully. There will be organic growth in consumption as they become full-fledged consumers.”

“Simultaneously, a rising middle class will pave the way for strong consumption, inflow of foreign investment and a vibrant marketplace,” she added.