SME Times News Bureau | 05 Feb, 2020
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday called the Indian
industry for investing to pull the economy out of the stress while making it
clear that government spending will never be enough so the industry has to chip
in too.
"I don't think in today's condition it can be just government spending
which can pull economy towards growth and we want the industry to stop
hesitating... I strongly believe industry today will have to come out of
hesitation which you have..," she said at the post Budget meeting with
CII.
Sitharaman said that the biggest priority of the government was to keep the
macroeconomic stability unchanged, adding that it was clear that they couldn't
play around or violate the FRBM Act, so they utilised escape clause as given in
the Act.
The FM said she expected industry to be the engine to pull the economy forward
and do its own bit
"I had several interactions with industry leaders before the budget
presentations and will be spending time focusing on the implementation of the
budget. The government has done its bit on simplifying & cutting corporate
tax rates and now expects the industry to be the engine to pull the economy
forward as the government spends is not sufficient," she added.
The Minister said the government will push exports on WTO compliant lines.
"We are aiming to push exports which are compliant with WTO norms. We want
to support exports while being in compliance with WTO norms," she said.
She also clarified that there is no shift in 'Make in India', and the
government is using 'Assemble in India' as a platform for it.
"'Assemble in India' has a different positioning in India and the
government has not left 'Make in India' unattended. Under 'Make in India', we
want to give a platform to Indian manufacturers. The idea is to make 'Assemble
in India' a part of 'Make In India'... there is no shift from 'Make in India'.
The 'Assemble in India' is also important and would rather supplement 'Make In
India'," she added.
"We want government intervention to be meaningful rather than rushed into
and we seek industry to keep giving the required feedback."
Reiterating the significance of industry, she said that the industry has a big
opportunity in capacity creation and development in rural India. She added that
the government is not closing the doors for industry and is just looking at
meaningful intervention.
"We have the biggest priority is keeping the macro economic stability
undisturbed," she said while rubbishing reports of protectionism in hiking
duty on medical devices.
The minister said government does not want cheap imports to flood markets.
In another major move to provide a cushion to the sagging economy, the
government has identified spending for infrastructure to be focus area, she
said, adding that spending on asset creation and its cascading effect will help
the industry.