Asheville: World Bank President Ajay Banga has identified infrastructure, agriculture, primary healthcare, tourism and value-added manufacturing as five sectors that could create large numbers of jobs in India, particularly through micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
In an exclusive interview with IANS, Banga said private investment would be central to turning India’s economic growth into employment for its large young population.
“Jobs are created in the private sector. Government enables and the private sector creates,” Banga said. “And the jobs are created with micro and small and medium sized enterprises.”
Banga placed infrastructure at the top of the list, pointing both to employment generated through construction and to the wider economic activity enabled by better physical connectivity.
“One of those is infrastructure, they’re doing so, construction, but then what it enables,” he said.
Agriculture for small farmers was the second area identified by the World Bank chief.
“When I was in India last time, I was in Uttar Pradesh and I got a chance to see cooperatives working in the state with technology from Google and us trying to enable small farmers to get access to the inputs and stuff they need at scale,” he said.
Banga said primary healthcare could also become a major source of employment if services were delivered through decentralised clinics. Such a model would require nurses, medical diagnostic technicians and midwives, supported by digital links to doctors and larger hospitals.
“And then you connect that with technology and digitisation to regional hospitals and doctors,” he said.
Tourism was the fourth sector on Banga’s list. He described it as a huge opportunity and said he had discussed the sector with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the G20 ministerial.
“In particular, I just spoke today to the finance minister about opportunities in tourism and what we can do together on that,” he said.
The fifth sector was value-added manufacturing. Banga said India had strong capabilities in areas including minerals, metals and fashion, which could be developed further to generate employment and economic value. “I think all of these are interesting,” according to him.
(IANS)
