India on cusp of new era of prosperity: PM Narendra Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday India is making remarkable progress towards achieving equitable and collective prosperity as he cited some reports to assert the country stands at the cusp of a new era of economic progress and is on course to become developed by 2047.

In a post on Linkedin, Modi said he recently came across two insightful research pieces which would interest all those passionate about India's economy: one from SBI Research and another by journalist Anil Padmanabhan. "These analyses shed light on something that should make us very happy- that India is making remarkable progress on achieving equitable and collective prosperity," he said. Sharing highlights from these reports, he said the SBI Research has pointed out (based on ITR returns) that the weighted mean income has made a commendable leap over the last nine years, from Rs 4.4 lakh in AY (assessment year) 14 to Rs 13 lakh in FY (financial year) 23. Posting several data points from the two reports, he said these findings not only reflect India's collective efforts but also reiterate its potential as a nation.

"Growing prosperity augurs well for national progress. Undoubtedly, we are standing at the cusp of a new era of economic prosperity and are on course towards fulfilling our dream ‘Viksit Bharat' by 2047," he said.

The prime minister had in his 2022 Independence Day speech unveiled five resolves and making India a developed country by 2047 -- when the country would celebrate 100 years of Independence -- was one of them. Since then, he has repeatedly framed his government's various measures around this goal while calling for removing ills like corruption and dynastic politics. In his post, the prime minister said Padmanabhan's study of ITR data suggests a widening tax base across income brackets and each of them has seen a minimum threefold increase in tax filings, some even achieving a nearly fourfold surge.

The research highlights the positive performance in terms of increase in income tax filings across states. When comparing ITR filings between 2014 and 2023, the data paints a promising picture of increased tax participation across all states, he added. "For instance, ITR data analysis shows the state of Uttar Pradesh has emerged as one of the top-performing states when it comes to ITR filings.

In June 2014, Uttar Pradesh reported a modest 1.65 lakh ITR filings, but by June 2023, this figure had skyrocketed to an impressive 11.92 lakh," he said. The SBI report also brings forth an encouraging aspect that smaller states and that too from the northeast namely Manipur, Mizoram, and Nagaland have exhibited an admirable growth of over 20 per cent in ITR filings over the past nine years, he said.

"This shows that not only have incomes risen but so has compliance. And, this is a manifestation of the spirit of trust which the people have in our government," he added.