Rising Bharat Summit 2024: Brand Bharat differentiates India’s strengths, says Amitabh Kant

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India has taken great leaps in infrastructure, digitisation and climate change with the aspiration to become a modern progressive nation based on our civilisation, which is the differentiator of brand Bharat, G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said on March 20.

“What we have achieved in digitisation, climate change, infrastructure, there is a huge sense of national pride. We are not aping the West anymore, vestiges of colonialism have gone. We are going back to our roots. We want to be a modern progressive nation based on our own civilisation. Bharat gives you that sense as the time is now to be aspirational,” Kant said at the News18 Rising Bharat Summit 2024.

While the Centre's capital expenditure for 2024-25 is estimated at Rs 11.11 lakh crore, its effective capex, after accounting for grants-in-aid for creation of capital assets, which include allocations under demand-driven schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme, stands at Rs 14.97 lakh crore, up from the revised estimate of Rs 12.71 lakh crore in 2023-24.

“Bharat brand works best when we differentiate on our strengths. It’s about encapsulating what we have achieved in our growth, quantum leap in digitisation and infrastructure. Time is now to leapfrog,” he said.

India’s economic growth continued to be robust in the third quarter backed by strong momentum, robust indirect taxes, and lower subsidies, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monthly State of the Economy article, released on March 19. India's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 8.4 percent in the December quarter, data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on February 29 showed, blowing all expectations out of the water.

The government used "Bharat", a name used in the Constitution for the country along with India, in several official G20 documents. “Normally the G20 is held in one city, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted it to be held in 60 cities for it to become the people's G20. It was used to spread culture, we made it pan India presidency,” he said.

India emerged as a friend and consensus builder in the world following its successful G-20 presidency which uplifted India's image globally, Kant added.