B20 Summit 2023: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday pointed out that the Indian economy speaks for itself, when seen from a global standpoint. Sustained global economic recovery, according to her will be a key issue for atleast the next few years as the world is still recovering from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war.
In her address at the B20 Summit, hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), she highlighted how the Government of India has been consistently carrying out reforms for the past nine years with stable results, and that the share of capital expenditure in total expenditure has risen from 12.3% in FY18 to 22.4% in FY24 (BE).
She added that the measures implemented by the Centre have incentivised states to increase their capital expenditure (capex) spending. As of now, states’ capital expenditure has increased by 74.3% year-on-year (YoY) in Q1 of FY24, to complement Centre’s Capex increase of 59.1% in the same quarter.
B20 Summit is the official G20 dialogue forum for the global business community. It was founded in 2010 and till now, is considered as a key engagement group of G20.
“Increasing the emphasis on investments to spur growth is a sure shot route to achieving and sustaining growth and therefore investment in physical assets needs to be substantially raised, driven by the public sector and complemented by the private sector,” Sitharaman said while emphasizing that the world economy cannot survive another jolt in global supply chains
On growth trajectory, she added that the first quarter has went well, so the GDP numbers are expected to be good.
The National Statistical Office is scheduled to release the GDP numbers for the first quarter on August 31.
On the rising inflation concerns, she stressed upon how elevated interest rates for considerable time hampers recovery and that taming inflation to ensure sustained economic growth is the top most priority for the government.
Read More: Govt’s priority is to tame inflation, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman at B20 Summit
“We need to quickly diversify our supply chains. Well-functioning international markets with resilient and efficient supply chains are the ones that can help us sustain our growth. We need to cushion ourselves sufficiently against any shock that can happen,” she said.
Lastly, while responding to a query on China’s slowdown, Sitharaman highlighted that the recent economic slowdown of Beijing, could be a matter of concern, however, she is more focused on the opportunities that India presents.
“More than playing up on the troubles for China I would rather focus on what India can do and fill the gap,” she added.
