India to be a global powerhouse for investments and savings by 2030: World Bank

TOI :Partha Sinha, TNN | Jun 4, 2013, 06.53AM IST

MUMBAI: Across much of the developing world, robust growth over the next 17 years will be associated with high investment rates. 

As a result, by 2030, the combined share of China and India in world's total investments would be about 38%, compared to the combined share of all the high-income countries, including US, a report by the World Bank pointed out. 

"Under the gradual convergence scenario, Brazil, India and Russia, together, will account for more than 13% of global investment in 2030, more than the United States," WB's report, titled Capital for the Future: 

Saving and Investment in an Interdependent World, noted. The report said that in future, the patterns of investment will involve not only geographic shifts but also sectoral ones, mainly showing a marked tilt towards services. 

"As countries become richer, demand shifts toward services....In the gradual convergence scenario, services as a share of total investment in developing countries will grow from 57% to 61%," the report said. This shift will lead to increased demand for education, healthcare and infrastructure, and also a global drift "toward greater trade in services and a larger share of services being embedded in tradable goods," it pointed out. 

WB estimates that by 2039, India will reach its maximum ratio of working to non-working age population with 2.2 working person for every non-working one. 

"But already by the mid-2020, when most of the other developing countries will experience less favorable demographic trends, 

India will be one of the economies with the highest ratios of working to non-working population," it said. 

This, jointly with its large population and growing incomes, are the key explanations of why India will become a powerhouse in global savings and investment, the report noted.