What are the major changes that are taking place in modern India? What is the advantage and potential that India has in its modernization effort? What are the challenges? What will India look like in 25 years?

India is in the midst of a period of dramatic economic growth. It is also undergoing some degree of sociocultural change with women, especially because they are beginning to move out of their traditional roles into the work force. Although the caste system certainly exists, it is weakening in urban areas, and groups like dalits press increasingly for a more equitable and less discriminatory society. Despite this, especially in the villages, much of India remains poor, mired in systems in which one's opportunities are limited by one's parentage, prone to periods of religious nationalism which lead to discrimination against Muslims and other minorities, and prone to inefficiency and corruption in both politics and business.
India has been justly lauded for the growth of an innovative technology industry. By setting up a national biometric database and making bank accounts accessible even for the poorest Indians through the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) scheme, India has been rapidly modernizing its finance system and creating the basis for a more formal economy. The demonetization scheme of 2017 and changes to the GST also, although widely regarded as flawed in implementation, still head India in the direction of a more efficient and formal economy. Although labor market regulation, infrastructure issues, an overburdened legal system, and a sclerotic bureaucracy still result in some difficulties in doing business, India has finally moved into the top 100 countries of the world in the ease of doing business index of the World Bank Group.
Over the next 25 years, India should remain a diverse and vibrant democracy. The major urban centers will continue to generate substantial wealth and innovation. Although education and infrastructure will hinder rural development, mobile banking, and distributed power generation, other new technologies may allow for increasing modernization in the villages. Urban areas will continue to move away from entrenched systems such as caste and arranged marriages, although more rural areas will be slower to evolve.