Coastal states must act as export hubs even for inland prosperity

India’ path to a $30 trillion economy would be eased by different but coordinated strategies for coastal and inland states

- K.R. SUBRAMANIAN & AADITYA TIWARI

An ambitious vision for a $30 trillion Indian economy by 2047 has been laid out in an approach paper from Niti Aayog, ‘Viksit Rajya for Viksit Bharat @ 2047. The paper argues that the path to this goal’s realization runs through India’s states, several of which—such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana—have formally declared their intention to become trillion-dollar economies by or before 2047.

The trillion-dollar milestone, however, is not an end in itself. It is more notional, meant to signal investment potential and the promise of growth. By their very geography, coastal and inland states will require different strategies for economic expansion. Coastal states, with direct access to ports, are likely to grow faster.

China’s experience illustrates this. Four coastal provinces—Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang—were the first to reach the trillion-dollar mark. Even today, all of China’s trillion-dollar provinces are coastal, though inland provinces are getting close.

This phenomenon, known as the ‘coastal premium,’ underscores how geography and policy intersected to create outsized growth for China. Coastal provinces attracted foreign investment through special economic zones (SEZs) and the export promise of deepwater ports. Meanwhile, China’s inland provinces leveraged rail corridors, riverine links and investment in education and digital infrastructure.