India's victory in the 2025 ICC Women's World Cup was a show of solidarity and determination. Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, and Deepti Sharma all excelled. But the cup was won thanks to everyone's perseverance. To promote progress and prosperity, India's economic players need to work together, much like in cricket.
India's economy has grown at the quickest rate since liberalization in 1991 because to significant infrastructural investments and technological advancements. According to the Economic Survey 2024–2025, boosting public and private investment, boosting productivity, and guaranteeing gainful employment for India's quickly expanding labor force will all be necessary to support the country's growth rates and help it achieve its goal of becoming an advanced economy by 2047.

Even though the private sector has been unleashed during the past 30+ years, there are still a lot of obstacles to overcome:
Labor reform
In order to streamline antiquated legislation, Parliament established four labor rules between 2019 and 2020. However, implementation is still sluggish. Global supply chain integration and labor flexibility will remain unattainable without it.
Due to strict regulations, many businesses choose to remain small in order to save money on compliance. However, this hinders global competitiveness in the face of changing supply chains by limiting scale, technological investment, qualified talent, and access to funding. According to recent IMF estimates, labor market reform can create 4.4 cr more jobs in India by 2029–2030, which will be crucial for boosting the country's burgeoning middle class and changing livelihoods.

Tango between center-states
Investment is nevertheless hampered by regulatory duplication, approval delays, and discretionary enforcement. Additionally, obtaining land for industrial use is still difficult and controversial, frequently involving ambiguous titles and drawn-out legal proceedings. This increases expenses and hazards for companies and delays the execution of projects. When combined, these problems show that enacting legislation is insufficient. A crucial component of true reform is effective implementation.
India is in a strong position to attract more investment despite global challenges. The financial sector's health has improved over the past ten years, suggesting room for increased lending for profitable commercial ventures. Concurrently, the corporate sector has reduced its indebtedness, suggesting a greater desire for debt-financed initiatives going forward.

India must do all within its power to encourage private investment, even while the uncertainty surrounding global policies may temporarily dampen animal spirits. This entails upholding steady and predictable policy frameworks and supplying the required public infrastructure by persistently working to increase the amount and caliber of public investment, whether at the federal, state, or local/panchayat levels.
Furthermore, increasing trade liberalization—which includes lowering tariffs and non-tariff barriers, luring foreign direct investment, and strengthening integration into GVCs—will be crucial for boosting productivity and transferring technology.
In order to generate the capital stock India needs to become an advanced economy, policies that close India's reform gaps in comparison to the world's top-performing emerging nations might increase private investment by about 5%.

The enormous potential for growth from increased regional integration is also demonstrated by the IMF's study in its "Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and Pacific." The world's least integrated region is South Asia. Additionally, supply chain changes typically benefit nations with lower labor costs, greater trade ties, and greater openness to FDI.
A stable macroeconomic framework and continuous economic reforms are necessary for India to reach its full economic potential. However, it needs to go farther. India must embrace smart regulation as an ongoing institutional process that encourages private investment, produces high-quality jobs, and fosters steady productivity development in place of one-time reforms.

This entails streamlining regulations and enhancing their formulation and implementation. Smart regulation reduces expenses, fosters trust, and facilitates the integration of small businesses and unorganized labor into the formal sector. This encompasses financial access as well. Productive growth requires increasing financial intermediation and investment efficiency, particularly by expanding financing options for small and creative businesses.
GoI, states, corporations, and civil society must cooperate to rotate the strike and remain unwavering in the face of pressure. India can achieve its goal of becoming a developed country with planning and cooperation. The pitch could be difficult. However, India can achieve a significant victory if they have a well-defined strategy and a strong sense of teamwork.