'Trump has given India opportunity to become far more productive, competitive', says Amitabh Kant

Amitabh Kant at Network18 Reforms Reloaded 2025 summit in Delhi

Amitabh Kant said that United States President Donald Trump has given India an opportunity to become far more productive and competitive and that India should not lose the opportunity. He said this is a God given opportunity for India.

Speaking at Network18 Reforms Reloaded 2025 summit in Delhi, former G20 Sherpa, Government of India and Former CEO of NITI Aayog said that the biggest beneficiary of globalisation was the US.

He pointed out when the opportunity for global south and other nations came to benefit from globalisation, the World Trade Organisation was weakened.

He said that the biggest beneficiary of globalisation was the US, but now India must take the lead.

Slamming the US, he said it did not differentiate between the developed and the least developed and started pushing for bringing manufacturing to the US.

"When the opportunity for global south and other nations came to benefit from globalisation, you kill WTO and you remove differentiation between developed and least developed and then you push for bringing manufacturing back to the US," Kant said.

Kant stressed that India needs to push for manufacturing in a big way and for that India needs to bring down logistics costs and interest rates.

"For that we need to bring down logistics costs and bring down interest rates. The interest rates must come down," he said.

Kant said that the private sector must drive wealth creation if India is to achieve the goal of Viksit Bharat. “We need a scorching pace of growth. Bureaucrats must dismiss outdated rules, accelerate privatisation, and push tourism aggressively,” he said.

Kant emphasised that India must leverage global opportunities by integrating into value chains rather than relying solely on protectionism. “Swadeshi is Make in India but also being part of global value chains. It is about selling to the world despite the protectionism that Trump is preaching,” he said, adding that India cannot achieve 9–10% growth without strong exports.

On manufacturing, Kant noted, “Instead of importing, manufacturing in India is critical. We should get Chinese companies to enter into joint ventures with Indian firms so that they manufacture in India.”