Sitharaman urges industry to take more risks to give impetus to growth

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Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked the industry to take a lot more risk and give additional impetus to the economic growth. She also appealed to the industry to ramp up manufacturing capacities and create employment opportunities.

The industry must emphasise on reducing import of finished goods and focus on ramping up investment in manufacturing, the finance minister said in her address to the CII Global Economic Policy Summit 2021.

“I would strongly appeal to the Indian industry that you shouldn’t further delay looking at increasing capacities… looking at newer areas evolving, shouldn’t delay in finding partners who can give you such technology,” the Business Standard quoted Sitharaman as saying.

Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked ministries and departments to ease the compliance burden for the industry, she said the intention is to remove obstacles, and it won’t stop at doing away with just 1,500 archaic laws.

Banking turns around

The finance minister said the banking sector has turned itself around and bad loans have started declining while recoveries are increasing. She added that State-run banks have raised Rs 10,000 crore from the market, and are not anymore looking at the government support.

Banks through the credit outreach programme have collectively lent Rs 75,000 crore in the run-up to Diwali crore, she said.

The country is moving towards solar and renewable sources of energy and this target can be achieved if all stakeholders are committed towards meeting this goal. Even as there is no additional demand, India’s fossil fuel bills are going up since crude oil prices have increased substantially, she said.