Gita Gopinath, the first Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was back at her college hangout spot in Delhi yesterday. Posting a picture on X, formerly twitter, Gita Gopinath shared that she used to spend hours at the JP tea stall at Delhi School of Economics. 

Ms Gopinath was accompanied by director of the Delhi School of Economics Prof Ram Singh at the tea stall. 

“A walk down memory lane: Hanging out at the JP tea stall at my alma mater Delhi School of Economics @UnivofDelhi. Spent many hours at the tea stall back in the day. Thank you Prof. Ram Singh (Director of DSE) for inviting me back!” she captioned the post. 

A walk down memory lane: Hanging out at the JP tea stall at my alma mater Delhi School of Economics @UnivofDelhi. Spent many hours at the tea stall back in the day. Thank you Prof. Ram Singh (Director of DSE) for inviting me back! pic.twitter.com/vScp909L9l

— Gita Gopinath (@GitaGopinath) August 17, 2024

Ms Gopinath was in the national capital to attend Delhi School of Economics’ 75th anniversary celebrations. There, she interacted with the students and had a conversation with NK Singh, Chairman of 15th Finance Commission of India. She shared a glimpse of the event on X. 

Enjoyed my fireside chat with ⁦@NKSingh_MP⁩ and interacting with students at the Delhi School of Economics ⁦@UnivofDelhi⁩ as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations. pic.twitter.com/QRUDbfUol0

— Gita Gopinath (@GitaGopinath) August 17, 2024

Ms Gopinath did her masters from Delhi School of Economics of the University of Delhi after doing her bachelors from Lady Shri Ram College of the same university. She then earned another master’s degree from the University of Washington before doing her PhD from Princeton University. 

While in India, Ms Gopinath met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and congratulated her on the policy continuity in the fiscal consolidation path followed by the Government of India.

The First Deputy Managing Director @IMFNews, Ms. @GitaGopinath, called on the Union Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman, in New Delhi, today.

Ms. @GitaGopinath congratulated the Union Finance Minister on the policy continuity in the fiscal consolidation path followed by the… pic.twitter.com/T40ys37u9o

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) August 17, 2024

Ms Gopinath also had a wide-range discussion with NDTV, in which she said that India will need a multi-pronged approach to create jobs instead of targeting only a few areas to add more workers.

“India has done extremely well in headline growth numbers… It is the fastest-growing major economy in the world. If you look at the last decade, growth has averaged around 6.6 per cent. Certainly India’s growth has been much more capital intensive, but much less in hiring a lot more workers, in creating a lot more jobs,” Ms Gopinath told NDTV.

She also spoke about climate change and how it is impacting the Indian economy and what India needs to do to become a developed nation by 2047. 
 

New Delhi:

India will need a multi-pronged approach to create jobs instead of targeting only a few areas to add more workers, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath told NDTV today.

She said at least in India, any disruption caused by artificial intelligence (AI) in the jobs sector will have a lower impact as a majority of India’s workforce is in labour-intensive agriculture.

“India has done extremely well in headline growth numbers… It is the fastest-growing major economy in the world. If you look at the last decade, growth has averaged around 6.6 per cent. Certainly India’s growth has been much more capital intensive, but much less in hiring a lot more workers, in creating a lot more jobs,” Ms Gopinath told NDTV.

She gave a small list of to-dos in order to create more jobs in India.

“In the near-term, it is helpful to improve the ease of doing business. We see that in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Removing trade restrictions also plays a very important role. Public infrastructure investment is already happening, and more of that will absolutely help,” the key IMF officer said.

“But to make this a medium-long term growth story requires more investment in human capital and scaling up the workforce. You look at India’s workforce in terms of the number of years of education. It is much lower compared to its peers. So investing in raising the skill level of the country is going to be absolutely critical,” Ms Gopinath said.

She said creating jobs has to be a multi-pronged approach. “The numbers are large. It cannot be done by targeting a few areas. It’s going to require broad-based job creation,” she said.

On concerns over AI derailing India’s plans and policies to increase the number of jobs, the Indian-origin IMF officer said only 10 per cent of India’s workforce is at risk of displacement by AI.

“Since a majority of India’s workforce is in labour-intensive agriculture, the impact of AI is going to be lower. We assume 24 per cent (of India’s workforce) is exposed to AI, of which 10 per cent is at risk of displacement. This is a small number. The question is what are we going to see around the world?” Ms Gopinath said.

At the IMF, Mr Gopinath oversees the work of staff, represents the fund at multilateral forums, maintains high-level contacts with member governments and board members, the media, and other institutions, and leads the IMF’s work on surveillance and related policies, and oversees research and flagship publications.

She previously served as the Chief Economist of the IMF from 2019-22. In that role, she was the Economic Counsellor of the IMF and Director of its Research Department.