New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS): India is making rapid progress and in order to become a developed nation, the next big challenge is to create more room in the urban centres for more people to move in, get their first jobs, and contribute towards building the economy, Nobel laureate Professor Paul Michael Romer said on Monday.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of the ‘NDTV World Summit 2024,’ Romer said that the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has delivered real progress for all members of society.

"India can make a lot of progress quickly. This should be the goal without relaxing in between. What you want is a nation which keeps making progress towards achieving its economic goals. I think attracting foreign investors is a very good strategy for any country that's trying to become a developed nation," he elaborated.

The top economist further said that countries that are led by dynamic leaders like PM Modi will continue to make progress and will move ahead and those which are poorly led will fall behind.

Earlier at the event, Professor Romer hailed India’s digital growth, saying it has given citizens access to various government schemes seamlessly.

"India's story is unique because it is providing benefits to all. The benefit in India is that people can see in their daily lives the benefits that they have been able to enjoy because of government innovations. People see that the government has delivered," said Romer, former Chief Economist of the World Bank.

Lauding the Aadhaar initiative, the Nobel laureate said the government has an important role to function as a regulator to effectively utilise technology for the public good. Romer further stated that problems like climate change can be tackled with technological innovation without compromising economic growth