'Challenge is not merely population': Vijay Kedia on India's biggest strength - and its biggest risk

Ace investor Vijay Kedia on Thursday said India's future would depend not on the size of its population but on the productivity of its people. He highlighted the country's ability to support nearly one-fifth of humanity despite limited land and water resources.

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Kedia said India accounted for nearly 18% of the world's population while possessing only around 2.4% of the world's land area and about 4% of global freshwater resources. "Supporting one-fifth of humanity with limited natural resources is both India's greatest challenge and one of its greatest achievements," he wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Kedia pointed to India's agricultural and economic achievements despite those constraints. He said India was among the world's largest producers of milk, rice, wheat, fruits, and vegetables, operated one of the world's largest irrigation networks, and had achieved broad food self-sufficiency for a population of more than 1.4 billion people.

He also noted that India had emerged as a major exporter of food grains, pharmaceuticals, and digital services. "The challenge is not merely population. The real challenge is improving water efficiency, agricultural productivity, education, skills, infrastructure, technology adoption, and governance," Kedia said.

"A nation supporting nearly one-fifth of humanity with a fraction of the world's land and water resources cannot afford inefficiency," he added.

Kedia said India's long-term trajectory would ultimately depend on how effectively it improved productivity across sectors. "India's future will be determined not by the size of its population, but by the productivity of its people," he said.

Reacting to Kedia, Deepak B, Deputy Group CFO at URC, writes: "I hope investors like you, Nilesh Shah, and others with long-term vision and the ability to identify opportunities, contribute more to the government and become part of the system to improve things on the ground."