Delhi Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Saturday, 10 October 2026 said India has completed its transition from a climate of fear around business to one of ease of doing business, and that the country's next frontier is the 'ease of scaling business' — focused on innovation and employment creation in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic vision. He was speaking at the 121st Annual Session of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) in New Delhi.

The Three Pillars of India's Next Economic Leap

Sandhu laid out three structural priorities for India's next phase of growth. The first is talent and labour quality. 'A competitive economy requires a skilled, adaptable and productive workforce with focus on employability, industry-oriented skills, vocational training and preparing workers for emerging technologies,' he said at the session.

The second pillar is technology and innovation, encompassing technology adoption, research and development, entrepreneurship and the commercialisation of new ideas. The third is investment and value creation — with Sandhu arguing that investment must be assessed not just by capital inflows but by its contribution to employment, technological advancement, productivity and domestic value addition.

Beyond Market Size: The Competitiveness Argument

Sandhu cautioned that a large consumer market, while a vital foundation for growth, is not sufficient on its own to guarantee international competitiveness. He said businesses also evaluate whether a country offers the capabilities, infrastructure and institutional conditions to serve a market efficiently and use it as a platform for wider expansion.

This framing reflects a broader shift in India's economic policy discourse — from merely attracting investment on the basis of market scale to building the ecosystem that converts that scale into productive and export-competitive capacity.

Focus on Outcomes, Not Just Procedures

The LG emphasised that the coming phase of economic development must prioritise measurable improvements in business outcomes rather than procedural reform alone. He called for aligning governance, infrastructure, skills, technology, investment facilitation and enterprise development to strengthen India's position as a competitive destination for international business.

Next-phase priorities, according to Sandhu, include transforming market potential into productive capacity, enabling investment to generate employment, improving productivity through skills, supporting innovation through technology, and reducing business costs through efficient logistics.

Delhi as a Hub: Clean, Labour-Centric Growth

Sandhu specifically noted that the national capital must emerge as a centre of enterprise, investment and employment. He stressed that growth in Delhi must be clean, non-polluting and labour-centric, so that economic progress translates directly into livelihoods for residents. He cited the push to develop Dwarka as a major investment hub as one concrete expression of this principle.

Industry Voice: Wise Growth Over Fast Growth

Anil Gupta, Senior Vice President of PHDCCI, echoed the long-term framing at the session, stating that true economic progress lies not merely in how fast a country grows, but in how wisely it grows — creating prosperity today without compromising the resources, opportunities and well-being of future generations. The remarks signal that industry bodies are increasingly aligning with a sustainability-conscious growth narrative alongside traditional GDP metrics.

With India's economic policymakers and business chambers converging on a 'scale and innovate' agenda, the direction of reforms in the months ahead will be closely watched.