India well positioned to capitalise on new growth opportunities, says Sitharaman

New York: The global economic environment may present challenges but India is well positioned to capitalise on new growth opportunities, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said, underlining that as nations re-evaluate their supply chains, India hopes to become a key partner for many countries seeking to diversify their sources of goods and services.

She made these remarks on Monday while delivering a special lecture on ‘India’s Economic Resilience and Prospects Amidst A Challenging and Uncertain Global Environment’ at Columbia University here. She said that India is looking towards boosting domestic capacities, and building resilience against external shocks.

“While the past decades saw global growth led by broad multilateral trade, the coming years, I think, will likely be defined by strategic economic partnerships and India is very well poised to take advantage of this transition.” She said that the global economic environment may present challenges, but “India is well positioned to capitalise on new growth opportunities.

“The shift towards a more fragmented global economy, characterised by redefined alliances and changing trade patterns, could in fact work to India’s advantage. As nations re-evaluate their supply chains, India hopes to become a key partner for many countries seeking to diversify their sources of goods and services,” she said at the lecture organised by the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Sitharaman arrived in New York Sunday from Mexico where she had chaired the Tech Leaders Roundtable in Guadalajara. She had also visited the TCS headquarters in Guadalajara. In New York, she addressed a Roundtable on ‘Investment Opportunities in India’ at the New York Stock Exchange and participated in a fireside chat on India’s decadal economic reforms and economic growth with IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna.

From New York, Sitharaman will head to Washington DC to participate in the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, the 4th G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governor Meetings, besides the G20 Joint Meeting of FMCBGs, Environment Ministers, and Foreign Ministers; and G7 – Africa Ministerial

Roundtable.