New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday asked India Inc to take advantage of the policies and reforms undertaken by the government and no longer hesitate to invest more and expand capacities.
Sitharaman also asked the industry to partner with the government for skilling the youth and also to engage with the government throughout the year, and not just before the Budget.
Speaking at the Indian Foundation for Quality Management (IFQM) symposium, Sitharaman said the path to Viksit Bharat will be guided by a seasoned approach to quality management, identifying the levels and sectors within manufacturing and services where interventions are most needed.
To a question by Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran on her key asks from the industry, Sitharaman listed out three points — invest more, partner with the government in skilling youth, and have a year-round engagement with the government and not just before the Budget.
She said the government has been steadily moving and with necessary seriousness, as per the expectation of the industry and cited several government initiatives for promoting ease of doing business, tax-related benefits, framing policies to make businesses better off and opening up for more FDI.
“... Today I have a basket of things on which the government has delivered,” Sitharaman said, adding Prime Minister Narendra Modi has never relented on reforms, nor has he ignored the wishlist of the industry.
“... I hope there is no more hesitation for the industry to invest further, to expand capacities, produce more in India, and spell out what else is required by the government to do,” Sitharaman said.
On the point of skilling youth, Sitharaman said she would want the private sector to partner with the government in preparing youth to be fit for quick and direct employment.
On the third point of industry engagement, she said the interaction with the government should be ongoing. “It should not be just before the Budget... We are all here to hear you and respond,” the Minister said.
Responding to the finance minister’s call to the industry to make investments, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran acknowledged that the opportunity and the platform that the government has given are enormous, both in the domestic market and in the export market. “I firmly believe that more entrepreneurs, more small and medium companies and big corporates would make a lot of investments. I’m very confident, because without that investment, we will not be able to capture the opportunity,” he noted.
Stating that “the world is calling for resilience and supply chain, alternative sources”, Chandrasekaran said, “India is the best place with the leadership that the Prime Minister provides for all of us.” To maintain economic momentum during the COVID period, the Modi government has increased capital expenditure by investing in infrastructure.
The government has set a total capital expenditure target of Rs 11.21 trillion for 2025-26 (Apr-Mar). In the first four months of this fiscal, capital expenditure is up 33 per cent year-on-year at Rs 3.47 trillion.
The government has been encouraging private sector industries to invest in capacity expansion, but private investment continues to lag behind government capex.
According to a survey released in April by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation private investment is expected to be 26 per cent lower in FY26 at Rs 4.89 lakh crore. According to the ministry, private companies had spent Rs 4.22 trillion on capital expenditure in FY24, Rs 5.72 trillion in FY23, and Rs 3.95 trillion in FY22.
Sitharaman further said that India’s most significant contributor to the GDP is from the MSME sector, and the government has ensured that the Small Industries Development Bank of India is physically present in MSME clusters. “Even in this day and age when we are talking about digital banking, we insisted that SIDBI would be present in each of these clusters,” she added.