India shining due to skilled youth power, captive domestic market, rule of law: Nirmala Sitharaman on India's growth prospects

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India has become an attractive investment destination as advanced economies consider India right for “friendshoring” because of its skilled youth power, captive domestic market, technology-driven public investments and rule of law.
Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2023, held in New Delhi, Sitharaman said: “You can speak against the government, you can speak against the Prime Minister, but then, you are there to do your business. So, there is no picking you up and disappearing from the world, none of that happens. Businesses are respected for what they do.”
Talking about India’s resilience despite global headwinds due to recession, Sitharaman said the country has the “right combinations” that matter for robust growth. “India has youth power, a middle-class that gives a captive market with certain purchasing power, technology-driven public investments in areas such as infrastructure, health education and fintech and oft-repeated but understated rule of law,” she said.
She added that the government is not hurrying to sell public units and will continue to have a presence in four strategic sectors, including telecom.
Sitharaman in the latest Budget announced that the government will raise Rs 51,000 crore by selling stakes in various state-run companies in FY24. This is marginally higher than the current year ending on March 31, 2023. In the last budget, the government intended to raise Rs 65,000 crore through divestments, which was later revised to Rs 50,000 crore.

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As per the government’s PSE Policy, the four broad strategic sectors are – atomic energy, space and defence; transport and telecommunication; Power, Petroleum, Coal and other minerals; and Banking, Insurance, and Financial Services.
In strategic sectors, a bare minimum presence of the existing public sector commercial enterprises at the holding company level will be retained under government control, the finance minister said on Saturday.
The remaining enterprises in a strategic sector will be considered for privatisation, merger with another PSE, or closure.
She added "the government is not a crazy rushing out to sell everything..nor it is saying that the government will run the business of producing pins to crops to everything. So where the government doesn't have to be, it won't. But where because of strategic interests you have to be, it will be there like telecom for instance,”.
Further explaining the minimum presence of government in those core sectors, she said: "We mean that institutions which are big enough to run on their own steam will be there but if there are others who are very small or unsustainable or not scalable, if there is a possibility, we will try to blend them so that bigger unit, sustainable unit, a unit which can on its own take care of its needs."
The government will blend them and create a larger entity that can continue to be there, Sitharaman said.
At present, the government is trying to work on the privatisation of a number of central public sector enterprises, such as IDBI Bank, Shipping Corporation of India, NMDC Steel, BEML, HLL Lifecare, Container Corporation of India, and Vizag Steel.

(With PTI inputs)

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