India can use technology to leapfrog across a whole range of areas, said Amitabh Kant

The post Covid-19 world comes with an opportunity to do away with a lot of rules and regulations to make India the simplest and easiest place to do business and use technology, said NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Sunday.

“It's also an opportunity to get into cutting edge areas of growth," Kant was quoted as saying by a news agency.

According to NITI Aayog CEO, this period can also be an opportunity for the country to use technology to leapfrog across a whole range of areas.

"COVID has accelerated the change, global supply chains will get relocated, there will be a China plus one strategy for manufacturing, a lot of FDI has come into India and it's an opportunity for us to attract the best manufacturers," he added.

Kant believes that the country needs to vaccinate fast in order to push for economic revival.

“I'm a great believer that for this economy, we need to vaccinate fast which we're doing now, the government has ordered a lot of vaccines to come in in subsequent months, so I agree with the government approach that by December we should've vaccinated entire population," the NITI Aayog CEO said.

He also spoke about the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) assessment of the Aspiration District Programme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kant was delighted as the Aspiration District Programme was able to make a difference in the lives of citizens of India, in education, health, nutrition, financial inclusion, skill development and to some most backward and most geographically far-flung districts of India.

"Because of this, almost 21 per cent of India's population has benefited and improved quality of life. This has been a huge transformational change at the grassroots level," Kant said.