India will be among top three economies in my third term, claims Modi

INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi laid bare his blueprint for a third term of his government, saying India will become the third largest economy in the world with a faster growth rate than now.

Modi government will complete 10 years in office next May and he is seeking a third term on development plank.

"We have to achieve the target of making India a developed nation in the next 25 years," he said after unveiling a world-class convention centre in the heart of the national capital.

India can definitely eradicate poverty, he said citing a NITI Aayog report that talked of 135 million poor being lifted out of poverty.

Reeling out statistics of development from the number of airports to railway line electrification to expansion of city gas during his nine-year tenure, Modi said India was the 10th largest economy when the BJP government took office in 2014.

The country is now ranked fifth in the world behind the US, China, Germany and Japan.

"We will make India a developed nation working on the principle of nation first, citizen first," he said inaugurating the International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC) complex which he renamed as Bharat Mandapam.

Modi said that when his government took office in 2014, the Indian economy was at the tenth position and now it is at the fifth position in the world.

He said that Bharat Mandapam, which will host the G20 summit in September under India's presidency, will promote conference tourism.

"World will witness rising stature of India when newly built Bharat Mandapam will host G20 summit," Modi said.

He slammed people with negative thinking for trying to stall development projects, including the convention centre. Just like privately accepting the grandeur of Kartvya Path, a 'toli' of negative thinkers will one day acknowledge Bharat Mandapam also, he added.

Earlier, Modi performed "pooja" at the redeveloped complex and interacted with the workers who were involved in the construction of the complex and felicitated them.

(PTI)