India is now acknowledged as a country of global importance beyond its history and sheer size of population, as an economic power, says Onno Ruhl , who completes his four-year term as the World Bank ’s country director in India. In an interview to ET’s Deepshikha Sikarwar and Vinay Pandey, he says climbing into top 50 will take some time but can be done. Edited excerpts:India must be in one of its most dynamic periods of history. What we have seen is end of a mandate that led to some hesitation in policymaking, to a very a strong mandate which led to ambition. There was high ambition in the government and there still is, but the actual pace of reform had to be tempered by the fact that in the Rajya Sabha there is still no majority.But if you look at where the country is now and where it was four years ago, then suddenly it looks like it was a fast change. Macro fundamentals are very, very solid. In 2013, India was most vulnerable during the taper tantrum. Now India is a star. India is now acknowledged as a country of global importance beyond its history and sheer size of population, as an economic power. Therefore, on balance you see a gradual but persistent shift with high ambition and a different projection internationally, leading to a very ambitious change.Cleaning the Ganga, Swachh Bharat , 100 cities, 500 cities, 24x7 power, Skill India...In the beginning people said these programmes sound good, but is this something comprehensive and then people realise what is in there is the recognition that India urbanises, and that’s positive. The recognition that Indians need a level of service that behoves a middle income country and middle-class nations, which India is in the process of becoming. Most importantly, the recognition that demographic dividend will only pay off if people benefit from investment and are skilled enough to be competitive. You can mobilise around it and then the target setting. My favourite target is October 2, 2019, the most important and the most difficult, the open defecation and Swachh Bharat.One big change is the goal setting and holding people accountable for those goals, which represents a different approach to how politics and administration have interacted in India. It’s really good, it’s really a game changer. The government says we want business, we want investment, so whatever is wrong we will try and fix it and will tell people who give permits or do inspection that their job is to facilitate is a big shift, not universally successful as yet. It is not perfect, but direction of travel is there.You are getting in the space of diversity and tolerance and things like that. The World Bank really has no mandate on that so I would limit to a few observations. First, for a diverse society like India to grow and prosper, that overall climate is harmonious, peaceful and that there are outlets for tension are positive and not negative.From where I am sitting I would say, yes, there are incidents, but look at the world today. Look at the incidents we have had in France, Belgium, United States, Turkey, let’s not go to Syria. India looks pretty stable. Indians sometimes criticise themselves too much. I don’t think the world looks at India as a hotspot or trouble spot.There is one development indicator where India is dead last in the world, the sex ratio. Building on that, India’s female labour participation rate is second to last among G20 countries. Only Saudi Arabia is worse. It’s significantly lower in urban areas than rural India. For India to become great and get beyond the middle income trap, there is no country that does that without drawing on the talent of its women in a more significant way. I see a little bit of complacency. It’s the number one issue.There are two approaches here – one is to set a very ambitious goal on the global ranking. The global ranking means Delhi and Mumbai. So it’s a very simplified and imperfect way of measuring what happens in India. Delhi and Mumbai are actually not the most dynamic parts of the Indian economy. The goal setting is good. It’s completely shifted the debate we had with DIPP and other agencies on what to do. This will lead to result. Other countries have done it. It’s a big effort and other countries are not sitting idle. Climbing into top 50 will take some time but can be done.The other approach is even more transformational, which is the work on ranking the states. I live near the Claridges (hotel in central Delhi). There was this big hoarding there saying Jharkhand is no. 3 in business ranking. Who in India could have anticipated something like this? Nobody said it is BJP’s goal. This is much more relevant than global ranking. This covers all of India.