India’s digital revolution, if coupled with reforms in entrepreneurship, capital flows, and formalization, can propel unprecedented growth despite persistent inequalities and can transform the country into a USD 8 trillion economy within the next decade, a report said.
At the Arkam Annual Meet 2025, tech visionary Nandan Nilekani unveiled The Great Unlock: India in 2023 showed bold projections from a USD 3.8 trillion GDP in 2025, India could more than double to USD8 trillion by 2035, assuming compound annual growth rates of 6–8 per cent.
However, the path is fraught with structural headwinds. “Income disparity, lack of formalisation, limited market access, and low productivity remain India’s biggest challenges,” the report warns.
According to the report, only 13 of India’s 788 districts contribute half of the country’s GDP. While Telangana’s per capita GDP sits at USD 3,811, Bihar lags at only USD 652. The top 10 per cent of earners take home nearly 60 percent of total income, while the bottom half scrapes by with a fraction. Migration trends underscore the imbalance: 200 million workers are on the move, leaving high-fertility northern and eastern states for jobs in the more industrialized south and west.
Real estate remains India’s largest asset class, accounting for 50 per cent of household wealth, yet much of it is locked and unmonetizable. Labor productivity tells a similar story—Indian workers generate USD 7 per hour, one-tenth of US output.
To overcome these obstacles, Nilekani and Arkam Ventures propose four levers for growth, including technology, entrepreneurship, capital, and formalisation.
Technology is at the forefront, with India betting big on artificial intelligence trained across 22 languages to bridge access for the “next billion” citizens. From AI-powered platforms for farmers and students to precision manufacturing tools for MSMEs, digital public infrastructure combined with low-cost AI could democratise opportunity.
Entrepreneurship is already reshaping India’s economy. Today, the country boasts 150,000 startups, a number projected to grow to one million by 2035. Significantly, half of these new ventures are emerging outside the top eight metros, addressing needs in smaller cities and rural areas.
Capital is also within reach. Retail participation in equities is surging, with 100 million investors and annual SIP flows topping USD 24 billion. India is poised to become the world’s most preferred IPO market by 2035, as unicorns increasingly list domestically rather than abroad. Credit expansion, tokenisation of land, and the Account Aggregator framework could further ease access to finance.
Finally, formalization is described as India’s most urgent unlock. With only 15 per cent of workers in the formal economy today, expanding access to digital platforms, portable credentials, and simplified compliance could lift millions into stable employment. By 2035, nearly half of India’s workforce is expected to be AI-native, with digital systems bridging the urban-rural divide.
The report concludes with a clear roadmap: accelerate capital flows, deploy AI for mass inclusion, fund entrepreneurs beyond metro hubs, unlock land through tokenization, and turbocharge MSME access to markets and credit. “India has built the infrastructure for take-off,” Nilekani said. “The challenge now is to ensure growth is not only fast but also fair and inclusive.”
