Agrasar Bharat: Defining the roadmap for India@2047

This article was first published on October 15 2026 in The Economic Times - Government.com International Banker.com. Please click here to read the article.

As India moves towards realising its aspiration of ‘Viksit Bharat@2047’, the key narrative is shifting from ‘how do we get there’ to ‘how fast do we get there.’ Expansion of access and opportunities has raised aspirations across citizens, businesses and communities, even as geopolitics, technology, and changing trade dynamics fundamentally reshape the environment in which India must grow.

India has built strong foundations over the past decade in infrastructure, digital public infrastructure, financial inclusion, manufacturing, and public investment. Next phase must be about translating them into competitiveness, resilience, innovation and opportunity.

If Viksit Bharat @ 2047 is the goal, Agrasar Bharat is a 20-year canvas to shape and fuel India’s growth story. It is about ‘Agility’ in responding to change, ‘Ability’ to build and scale new capabilities, and ‘Accountability’ to turn ambition into measurable outcomes. Our journey as Agrasar Bharat will be driven by capital-driven growth, technology-driven processes and people-driven institutions.

Sunrise sectors need to be prioritised, while sustaining progress already made

India finds itself at a unique position where both its cylinders of ‘growth’ and ‘sustenance’ need to fire simultaneously. The past few years have witnessed significant opportunities for ‘sunrise’ sectors,¹ including but not limited to electronics and semiconductors, renewable energy, sports, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and food processing and defence. It is vital that local talent pools are leveraged and capacities are unlocked through capital injections for homegrown manufacturing, stronger local procurement, greater investment in research & development, and streamlining private sector participation. Beyond reinforcing India’s self-reliance, these sectors can also strengthen India’s attractiveness for investment and expand its potential for export-led growth.

Meanwhile, the progress made in citizen-centric sectors such as water and sanitation, health, education and skilling, rural development and other similar areas needs to be sustained. Infrastructure creation must be complemented by strong service delivery, effective monitoring and greater focus on outcomes. These can help quantify the impact being created, identify areas for improvement and inform subsequent phases of flagship government programmes.

Growing citizen aspirations and expectations of accountability will also require institutional robustness, greater last-mile outreach, deeper local governance and financial sustainability, supported by private sector participation and a continuous feedback loop.

Technology will define how fast and how far we move

Technology is already changing the way India delivers services, conducts business and interacts with its citizens. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processed more than 24,161 crore transactions worth around INR 314 lakh crore in FY2025-26, with 55.49 crore users onboarded as of June 2026². What began as a digital payments’ infrastructure has become a part of the everyday economic life.

The next opportunity is to take this experience further. Artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies will increasingly influence productivity, competitiveness and public service delivery. The question is not simply whether India adopts these technologies, but whether it develops the talent, research capabilities, enterprises, data infrastructure and institutions needed to create value from them at scale.

AI has the potential to change the way governments make decisions, deliver services and respond to citizens – requiring responsible governance, strong data practices and public trust. Technology, after all, is only as valuable as the outcomes it enables.

People and institutions will shape India’s ability to deliver

Capital can create capacity; technology can accelerate change. People and institutions determine whether that change lasts.

India’s demographic advantage will translate into an economic advantage only if its young people have the capabilities, opportunities and pathways to participate meaningfully in the economy and collective progress. This would mean thinking beyond conventional education and employment and towards continuous learning, entrepreneurship, creativity and new forms of work.

Tier II and Tier III cities are becoming centres of entrepreneurship, investment, employment and innovation. Our public institutions will also need to evolve; anticipating rather than simply responding, using technology without losing sight of the citizen.

This is why the journey towards Viksit Bharat cannot be the responsibility of government alone. It will require closer collaboration across government, industry, academia, development institutions and the innovation ecosystem.

Aligning our aspirations today will help yield our ambitions 20 years later

Agrasar Bharat is ultimately about two things moving together in unison: the future we want to build; and the systems we need to improve today.

A future-ready workforce will mean greater productivity and better quality of life. Better infrastructure and stronger small businesses will mean new avenues of economic activity. Increased competitiveness in exports can strengthen India’s position in global value chains. Technology can improve both productivity and public services. Stronger and resilient institutions can ensure that these investments translate into outcomes that all Indians can see and experience.

The opportunity lies in bringing all these elements together – capability for competitiveness, preparedness for resilience, innovation for impact, inclusion for opportunity and participation for excellence. Across all of this, trust and accountability will remain essential.

The next 20 years offer India an incredible opportunity to shape not just the size of its economy, but the kind of country it becomes – more competitive, resilient, innovative and more inclusive. That is the promise of Agrasar Bharat – an India that does not simply prepare for the future but moves forward to shape.

^[1] Sunrise sectors in India: A lucrative landscape for foreign investors. Dewangi Sharma, Invest India. 19 July 2024.

^[2] UPI completes 10 glorious years, Emerges as World’s Largest Real-Time Payments Platform, Anchoring India’s Digital Economy, Press Information Bureau, 30 April 2026