Strategising the big leap
By simultaneously focusing on ‘big-ticket’ and ‘force multiplier’ strategies, India can intensify its march towards becoming a USD 5-trillion economy
The India story is playing out with great vigour across the world. Today, India has more than 100 Unicorns. On average, 5,000 patents are being filed every month by Indian researchers. Since 2014, India has added around 60,000 km of additional highways and electrified more than 24,000 km of rail lines. These developments led to incalculable savings and had a positive effect on our economy. We are now fast approaching the USD 5-trillion GDP target.
In the past, India’s achievements were largely driven by an ‘incremental approach’ to growth. Solutions were implemented based on the problem at hand. It was only after our cities got unbearably congested; did we go for metro systems. Because we had logistics issues with freight, a Dedicated Freight Corridor was planned. But, in the last eight years, India has shown the world the ‘exponential way’. For instance, demonetization was a proactive step that has made India the largest digital money transactor in the world. Sagarmala, High Speed Rail Corridor, National Hydrogen Mission etc. are all classic examples of an ‘exponential approach’.
India is now ready for the next giant leap.
Seizing this opportunity, we should conduct ‘exponential thinking’ on the ‘exponential approach’ itself. The telephone did not come into existence from the persistent improvement of the postcard. It needed a whole different thinking altogether. In this line of action, we shall bring our focus on two groups of strategies.
Big-ticket strategies
These are ecosystem-building strategies requiring largescale investments upwards of USD one billion each. You cannot run the cars of tomorrow on the roads of yesterday. For the modern USD 5 trillion+ Indian economy, one needs a totally new set of ideas and actions. Some of these are: Slurrification and piping of coal and iron ore: Pipelines have lower cost per unit and higher capacity. Hence, they are the most cost-effective, energy-efficient and safest means of transportation.
Coal and iron ore, like water, can be transported via pipelines by converting them into slurry.
Slurry units can be built at the mines where coal and iron ores are extracted. The coal or iron ore slurry can then be pumped via pipelines to the industries, which use them. Every year more than Rs 45,000 to 50,000 crores is spent by industries to transport coal, iron ore and petrochemicals through the railways in India. This amount is then recovered from the public, who buy the finished products.
This annual capital cost can be saved by constructing pipelines from production to consumption areas. The operational costs are minimal, making pipelines economically viable.
Building seabed gas and oil pipelines: India can build an International Pipeline Network (IPN) which will connect energy-rich nations to India. Most of the pipelines will be under-sea pipelines — ensuring India’s energy security in the long run.
Line 1 (Indo-Sri Lankan Tunnel): India can set up refineries in Sri Lanka. Refined petroleum will be routed from Sri Lanka to India via the IndoLankan tunnel which is to be constructed.
Line 2: Around 1,000 km from Al Hadd (Oman) Dwarka (India)-pipeline.
Line 3,4,5: Gas and oil feeder pipelines from UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to Oman — from where it will be routed to India via Line 2.
Line 6: Northeast India to Vietnam (1,000 km).
Line 7: Kolkata to Andaman (1,000 km); plus 1,500 km connecting Indonesia to Vietnam/Andaman (India) feeder pipelines from where coal, slurry/gas, oil, and condensate can be pumped into India.
Line 8: Kakdwip (West Bengal) to Sittwe in Myanmar (500 km).
Building an under-seabed rail tunnel from India to Sri Lanka: Constructing a railway tunnel under the seabed between India and Sri Lanka can create a BIMSTEC community on the lines of the European Union. A rail tunnel can be drilled under the seabed from India to Sri Lanka — connecting Dhanushkodi on the Indian side to Talaimannar on the Sri Lankan side. Five deep sea ports of Sri Lanka will connect to the mainstream Indian economy, making Sri Lanka a stakeholder in India’s growth story. The costs and operationalization have already been extensively worked out, showing that the project is feasible and workable in the long run. Building Canop-E cities across India: ‘E’ in Canop-E (pronounced-C-A-N-O-P-Y) stands for energy, environment and ecology. The idea is to build a huge canopy of one sq. km area, 500 feet above the ground, supported by around a hundred or more to evenly spaced heavy-duty pillars. The canopy will have solar panels installed on the outer aspect which will be exposed to the sunshine. The canopy will also be interspersed with small in-wind turbines to harness wind power that will flow through the canopy in predesigned gaps. Rain falling on the outer aspect of the canopy will be harvested. It will be led through pipes within the supporting pillars and collected below. An entire town can be located below the canopy. Buildings as high as 15 storeys can be easily built under the canopy. This will save energy, harvest water and become a net provider of water and electricity to society.
Force multiplier strategies
These are certain systemic and technology changes that will multiply benefits for India. They don’t need much investment in terms of money, time and effort. Usually, they will require investments far less than USD one billion. Some of them are:
Blockchain Technology for Supply Chain Management and Logistics: Blockchain enables precise and transparent end-to-end tracing of goods (and people) in a supply chain. Enterprises can create unique digital identities of physical assets and create a decentralized immutable record of all transactions, making it possible to track assets from production to delivery or consumption by the end user. Bharata Muktadarsha (Indian independent standards): Bharata Muktadarsha can be created with an objective to promote the Indian economy in global trading, the well-being of Indian citizens and the environment.
It can be benchmarked for development, maintenance and circulation of defined sets of standards as well as specifications, and thereby providing an efficient commercial infrastructure.
Credit-based education system: The New Education Policy provides for a credit-based education system.
India can boost this by introducing an accelerated credit-based education system, at least from standard eight onwards, until the students finish their graduation or post-graduation — allowing eligible students to enter the entrepreneur ecosystem five years earlier. This has been shown to add an annual USD 50 billion to India’s GDP. Encouraging ‘second-hand’ and dependent economies: As India develops rapidly, a huge market for second-hand goods will also come up. If not regulated or planned for, it might become a huge generator of waste — damaging the environment, lives and livelihoods. Therefore, the government can create a waste management ecosystem which will encourage the ‘second-hand’ economy. This can become a net revenue earner for the government as well as provide new avenues for employment and entrepreneurship.
We can thus innovate and categorize ideas and solutions into these two baskets — BigTicket Strategies and ForceMultiplier Strategies. India has so far, in the last eight years, expanded its existing capabilities by a great deal. It is now time to truly go ‘out of the box’, leap up the global value chain and start working on a ‘beyond 5 trillion’ strategy.
India has moved a great deal from having an ‘incremental approach’ of acting only out of an imperative to having a proactive exponential approach