India's $30 Trillion GDP Dream Needs Pension Reform, Capital Efficiency: Report

The report said India cannot reach a USD 20-35 trillion GDP through investment expansion alone unless capital efficiency improves sharply and domestic savings rise on a sustained basis. To meet its 2047 targets, India would need to sustain 7.5-10 percent annual growth for more than two decades. Even the widely cited $30 trillion GDP scenario would require investment rates of 35-40 percent of GDP, while domestic savings remain near 30 percent, creating a structural financing gap.

"India's growth constraint is increasingly a savings and efficiency problem, not a reform deficit," said Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group. "Without a durable expansion of domestic savings, especially long-term savings, the arithmetic of high growth becomes unsustainable."

The report stressed the urgency of improving capital efficiency and strengthening India's financial architecture. It proposed Tokenised Rupee Debt Instruments (TRDI)--digitally tokenised, fully government-backed securities--as a regulated innovation to reduce settlement delays, improve collateral mobility and deepen the sovereign bond market. Drawing on global evidence, the study said such instruments could lower liquidity premia, ease working-capital frictions and improve capital allocation.

A key focus of the report is the role of pensions and insurance, identified as the most critical missing link in India's growth architecture. With household financial savings having declined to around 5 percent of GDP, the study said well-developed pension and insurance systems are essential to pool small household savings into large reservoirs of patient, long-duration capital suited for infrastructure, urban services, human capital and productivity-enhancing investments.

"Financial innovation must serve macroeconomic efficiency, not speculation," said Rohan Kochhar, Founder, SKOCH Law Offices. "Pensions, insurance and tokenised public debt together can form a stable backbone for long-term growth without increasing systemic risk."

The report said deeper pension and insurance markets would lower the economy-wide cost of capital, improve risk-sharing and smooth investment cycles, while redirecting household wealth away from low-productivity assets such as gold and speculative real estate into productive financial assets.

It cautioned that Viksit Bharat cannot be achieved through isolated regional success. Persistent inter-state income disparities mean large states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal must grow significantly faster, requiring coordinated Centre-State strategies and stronger sub-national financing mechanisms.

The report concluded that India's journey to 2047 is a strategic marathon, dependent on disciplined savings mobilisation, pension and insurance reform, productivity-led investment and financial systems that ensure every rupee invested delivers maximum economic impact.

- ANI