India, China focus on inclusive growth: ADB

Many Asian economies including India and China are making inclusive growth key focus of their development plans even as the region faces rising inequalities in income, access to employment and social services, according to the Asian Development Bank.

The ADB has made these observations in its new book -- Poverty, Inequality and Inclusive Growth in Asia: Measurement, Policy Issues, and Country Studies.

In Asia, increasing inequalities in income, access to employment and social services are casting a shadow on the region's robust economic growth, the book noted.

The lender has also urged Asian governments and the private sector to work together to ensure that growth is more inclusive.

Attributing to the book, ADB in a statement today said that economies such as India and China recognise potentially negative social, economic and political consequences of such inequalities and are now, embracing inclusive growth as the central element of their development plans.

Asia is home to about two-thirds of the world's poorest people.

"Despite market liberalisation and globalisation creating new wealth and economic opportunities, inequalities in both income and non-income indicators have widened in many countries, particularly between large urban centres and the countryside," the statement said.

As per the book, inclusive growth strategy cannot succeed without private sector support.

"Developing Asia's stellar growth rates have masked rising inequality, leading to two faces of Asia - one shining and the other suffering," Juzhong Zhuang, who edited the book, said.

"Inclusive growth with its focus on creating economic opportunity and ensuring equal access will play a pivotal role in narrowing the gap," he added. Zhuang is an assistant chief economist at ADB's Economics and Research Department.

The book, which draws on research papers carried out by ADB economists and their collaborators, looks at recent trends of income and non-income inequality and poverty in Asia, among others.