By India Today Web Desk: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday predicted India’s growth rate to be around 7 per cent this financial year. She said that she is aware of growth forecasts being lowered around the world but she is confident of India’s relative and absolute growth performance in the rest of the decade.
Sitharaman was in Washington DC, US to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. She also held a fireside chat with Indian-American economist Eshwar Prasad at the Brookings Institute.
She, however, added that despite her confidence in India’s growth, its economy is not exempt from the impact of swirling global currents. “No economy is,” she added.
“After the unprecedented shock of the pandemic, came the conflict in Europe with its implications for energy, fertiliser and food prices. Now, synchronised global monetary policy is tightening in its wake. So, naturally, growth projections have been revised lower for many countries, including India. This triple shock has made growth and inflation a double-edged sword,” Sitharaman said.
SITHARAMAN ON BUDGET 2023
The finance minister said that the next annual budget of India will have to be very carefully structured to sustain the countrys growth momentum. The next annual budget will be presented by Sitharaman in February and preparations for it are likely to begin in December.
She said it is still early to get into the specifics of the next budget but growth priorities will be on the top.She added that concerns of inflation that have been raised will also have to be addressed. “But then how would you manage growth would be the natural question,” Sitharaman said.
G-20’S POTENTIAL FOR PUBLIC GOOD
Nirmala Sitharaman also spoke about the G-20 and said the grouping of the top 20 economies of the world has great potential to work towards the global public good. “G-20 has a great potential to work towards global goods. India stack, for instance, can become a global stack. Efficient cross-border payments and cheaper remittances are all the benefits which we can derive out of it,” said Sitharaman.
This comes ahead of India taking over the annual leadership of G-20 in December. She added that India has been working very closely with the other members and said, “We love to work together with them and get some good outcomes.”
GOVERNMENT READY TO TALK WITH START-UPS
While speaking on various topics, Sitharaman also touched on the issue of startups who are contemplating moving overseas. She said the government is ready to talk with them andaddress their issues to help them stay in India.
She added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also engagedwith startups and the governments policies. She hinted that the government’s involvement in addressing the concerns of the startups could have led to India now having 100 unicorn startups.
“I would think continuous engagement with the startups is what is going to help them to remain and do better within India. But, if there are temptations for which they would want to go outside, we need to understand how much we can entertain and serve on those courses. Not all of them are possible but equally, we can try,” Sitharaman said.
