Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg: India Has Potential to Be Largest Economy

HYDERABAD: India, an emerging global economic power, has the potential to become the largest economy in the world, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said.

Sandberg, who served as chief of staff for the U.S. Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton, said the over $2 trillion Indian economy has immense potential to create jobs and drive growth, especially with its huge base of small and medium businesses.

"India has the potential to become the largest economy in the world. And if you look at economic growth, particularly recently, jobs is a very hard situation all over the world. From the U.S. to developing markets, everyone is very concerned about jobs."

"And majority of the growth, as I understand it, is certainly here, certainly in the U.S. In most countries, I have visited, SMBs are the way to growth," she told PTI.

Explaining further, Sandberg, whose previous stint was as Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, said "the answer to growth is entrepreneurship".

"Individuals are creating businesses and employing other people, and in India, the SMB growth is strong. And Internet provides more growth stories to SMBs. People are connecting to people and getting more customers and that's what leads to economic growth," she added.

Micro, small and medium businesses contribute nearly 8 percent of India's GDP, 45 percent of the manufacturing output and 40 percent of exports.

The sector is estimated to have given employment to about 595 lakh people in over 261 lakh such enterprises throughout the country.

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