Government to push investment, strategic sale

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday that the government had taken several measures to support the economy, and will continue with public investment, while pressing ahead with strategic sale of state-run companies. Several economists have suggested that the government needs to support economic revival for which Sitharaman had said that stimulus of close to Rs 30 lakh crore had been provided by the Centre and the RBI.

Addressing the annual general meeting of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the finance minister also said that no amount of intervention will be adequate to deal with the crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While pointing to clear signs of economic revival, the FM said there was interest from global investors, given that India had strong fundamentals, along with a stable government and the ability to push through reforms.

She said the reforms have helped generate significant interest from overseas investors. “A lot of sovereign funds and pension funds are keen to come to India. Most of these are not FIIs (foreign institutional investors), these are FDI which is a long-term fund,” she said, adding that FDI flows into India were higher than several comparable economies. During April-September, FDI flows were up 13% to around $40 billion.

The FM also said the government was clear about moving ahead with strategic sale of companies cleared by the cabinet. “Even during the pandemic, our efforts to disinvest some of those big companies are going on fine. The Eo-Is have come in, the next stage is going on and even within this financial year. I expect Dipam to be able to prove that they are even more actively engaging in those disinvestments for which Cabinet has already given approval.”

Sitharaman also assured industrialists that public expenditure would continue. “We are very much into government expenditure in infrastructure projects and that will be kept up.” On Atmanirbhar Bharat, the minister said the government did not want to support import of those goods or services which the domestic industry is producing and providing. “We are conscious that raw material support, intermediary goods support will have to carry on, we will continue with that,” she said.