India significant contributor to global growth during uncertain times: S Jaishankar

Kingston: India is a very significant contributor to overall global economic growth during "very uncertain, unpredictable" times, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said as he voiced concerns over the ongoing conflicts across the world.

"We are seeing a degree of turbulence, of volatility, of unpredictability which probably most of us have not experienced in our lives," Jaishankar said while speaking at the University of the West Indies in Kingston on Monday.

He said that India is "actually today a very significant contributor to overall global economic growth" amid "very, very uncertain, unpredictable economic time, economic circumstances."


"The IMF estimates that in this current year, if you look at total economic growth in the world, India would contribute 17 per cent to that, which would, I think, make us the second biggest contributor," he said.

He said that the "reality of politics" is "very sensitive to the movement of people", hence the Global Capability Centres (GCC) are emerging as the only solution under which "economic tasks move to where the people are".

"India has, in many ways, emerged as a leader of the GCC economy. At the moment, we have about 1800 GCCs whose exports are close to about 70 billion dollars every year, and it's growing at a very, very rapid rate," he added.

Jaishankar said that the world in transition "unfortunately looks like it's a much more self-centred."

"Countries tend to look out for themselves in a somewhat extreme manner", in this scenario, he said.

He said that India is showing the world in transition that the "national interest and global good are not contradictory" and "you can contribute to the world even while looking after yourself."

Jaishankar arrived in Kingston on Saturday, marking the first leg of his nine-day tour of Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, aimed at further strengthening India's strategic and cultural ties with the Caribbean nations.