What does India need to address to achieve 2047 Viksit Bharat goal? WTO flags trade, regulatory hurdles

India would need to address structural challenges like high trade costs, regulatory complexity, infrastructure gaps, and barriers to deeper global integration to achieve its goal of becoming a developed economy by 2047, The World Trade Organization (WTO) said in a report.

In its latest Trade Policy Review, the WTO Secretariat said India had “balanced self-reliance with outward orientation" during the review period, while continuing to rely on "relatively high tariffs, the use of import and export controls, state trading, and extensive budgetary support programmes.”

The report said the country's long-term Viksit Bharat vision envisages it becoming a "self-reliant, inclusive, innovation-driven, and sustainable developed economy" by 2047.

How fast must India's economy grow?

The WTO Secretariat said India would need to sustain annual real GDP growth of around 8% to achieve that objective.

The Secretariat noted that India was consistently the fastest-growing G20 economy in the post-pandemic period, recording average annual real GDP growth of 7.3% between FY2022-23 and FY2025-26.

The IMF has projected India's economy to expand 6.3% in 2026 and account for about 17% of global real GDP growth.

According to the Secretariat, domestic demand continued to be the main engine of growth.

India's trade-to-GDP ratio touched 50% in FY2022-23 before moderating to 45% in FY2024-25, still remaining above pre-pandemic levels.

Describing the digital economy as one of the standout performers, the WTO Secretariat said it is estimated to be growing at "twice the pace of the overall economy".

It highlighted the expansion of the JAM Trinity, UPI and India Stack, noting that monthly UPI transactions increased from four billion in 2021 to more than 18 billion by early 2025, while India's digitally delivered services generated a trade surplus of over USD 200 billion in 2025.

Steps taken by India to boost trade & investment

The Secretariat pointed to the government's efforts to boost exports through the 2023 Foreign Trade Policy, export remission schemes and a growing network of free trade agreements.

During the review period, trade pacts came into force with Australia, the European Free Trade Association, Mauritius and the UAE, while negotiations had concluded with New Zealand and were close to conclusion with the European Union.

Talks were also continuing with the United States and several other partners.

On investment, it said India had continued to liberalise its foreign direct investment regime, with sectoral caps raised or removed in areas including defence, insurance, telecommunications, petroleum and natural gas, civil nuclear energy and space.

According to the authorities, about 90% of FDI inflows now come through the automatic route.

What concerns has the WTO raised?

The Secretariat, however, also noted that India's trade regime continues to be characterised by relatively high tariff protection. It said the average applied most-favoured nation tariff stood at 15.7% in FY2025-26, while tariffs on agricultural products averaged 38.6% compared with 12.4% for non-agricultural goods.

It also pointed to India's continued use of import licensing, minimum import prices, tariff-rate quotas, export taxes and minimum export prices.

Between January 2021 and June 2025, India initiated 226 anti-dumping investigations and had 170 anti-dumping measures in force, making it one of the most active users of trade remedies globally.

The report said India remained a strong advocate of development-centred WTO reforms and continued to argue that reforms must be "development-centred, consensus-based, and Member-driven". It also noted that India does not subscribe to the Joint Statement Initiatives and had not ratified the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement by the end of 2025.

On manufacturing, the Secretariat said India had emerged as the world's second-largest mobile phone producer and fourth-largest automobile manufacturer, while supplying 20% of the world's generic medicines.

However, it cautioned that "high input costs partly linked to tariffs, high capital costs, inadequate industrial infrastructure, reliance on technology transfer, business operation hurdles, and access to land" continue to weigh on manufacturing growth.