Technology in sunrise sectors key to 9-10 pc growth: Kant

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Saturday that technology in sunrise sectors will have to be the key for the country to achieve 9-10 percent growth. Kant was delivering the 41st Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture here.

"My belief is, unless and until we don't use technology to leapfrog into the next generation, it will be we grow as usual, at 4-5 percent. "But if you want a quantum jump of 9-10 percent, technology in sunrise areas of growth has to be the key," he said.

"And therefore, we must use machine learning, we must use artificial intelligence to make this massive growth process," Kant said. Electric mobility will be the newer area of growth, especially with the cost of battery falling radically, he said.

Data storage has also created huge possibilities for innovators, he said. "What India has done is create a vast amount of data in the public domain, on the back of which it has allowed the private sector to innovate. What we need to do is use this public highway for a lot of private sector innovation," he said.

"No other country in the world has the size and scale of India as far as data is concerned. Nowhere in the world, we have public data of this size and scale to find solutions to the challenges of India," he said. Underscoring the importance of design, Kant said it accounts for 70 percent of a product's value.

"In today's world, more than manufacturing, it is the design which is important. Therefore, design in India must become our key principle... And that is where the real value lies," he said. Indian companies, innovators, researchers, and academicians should come forward and register their patents, Kant said.

"India's patent registration has been absolutely dismal. And therefore, the key really is about building intellectual knowledge, doing research, about registering. Therefore, it is a big onus on all of us," he said.

India has seen a large number of start-ups emerging in recent times, he said. "And start-ups are not merely disrupting systems, but many are finding solutions to problems in India, he said.

He also called for gender parity in the country's workforce and reforms in the agricultural sector.