Why India's districts need local growth strategies

Job creation in India has largely been concentrated to cities, which attract most of the investment and talent. However, several enterprises are now emerging in the smaller towns and cities. This makes it pertinent for districts to develop their own strategies for job creation, based on the local economy, culture, identity and requirements.

This was the central theme of the panel ‘Viksit Districts for Viksit Bharat: Catalysing Livelihoods and Local Economic Growth’ at the social impact event Charcha 2026 organised by The/Nudge Foundation in New Delhi recently.

Srinivas Katikithala, secretary, Union ministry of development of north eastern region (DoNER), said that while India is rapidly urbanising, this was concentrated in certain centres and corridors. As a result, 200-250 districts out of India’s 800 may not be urbanised because of their geographic location.

Katikithala said interventions in those districts should be different from what is required in urban centres, with perhaps a focus on entrepreneurship. Similarly, gig services offer an opportunity to provide services around retail, food and transport, amongst others in urban centres.

“A district is an identifiable unit with its own culture and identity that is big enough for scale and small enough for detail,” Katikithala said. For that, he said, district administrators need to become more like district managers, wherein they take care of anyone, whether a visitor, tourist, job seeker or investor, coming to the area.Ishtiyaque Ahmed, programme director, NITI Aayog, said that for real economic growth, even the last family at the last mile needed to benefit, and for that, local districts must develop their own growth paradigm.

Nagaland MLA Hekani Jakhalu said that to create a lasting impact on the local economy, four key stakeholders needed to work in tandem: entrepreneurs, the government, the community or people at the grassroots, and mentors or experts in the area.

Kanta Singh, deputy country representative, UN Women in India, emphasised on the critical role of the administration in the development of any district since no NGO or business could bring change at a large scale.

“A district collector or a district magistrate can act as a CEO and bring investment there,” Singh argued, citing how IPS officer Kiran Bedi, as in-charge of Delhi’s Tihar Jail, got over 200 NGOs to work there, bringing dignity to prisoners and offering them a way of livelihood. This, she said, became a model for prison reform.

Singh added that development needs to be inclusive, wherein the needs of all sections of society, whether it is women, LGBTQ, elders, etc., are mapped and they are involved in decision-making. “Nothing about me without me,” she said.