Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday urged the private sector to play big role in achieving developed nation status by 2047. She also expressed confidence in the robust health of both the corporate sector’s balance sheet and the finance sector’s balance sheet.

“The fundamental basis for consistent, steady and high growth in India is policy stability,” she said addressing Annual Business Summit of industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) here in the national capital.  Talking about role of private sector in growth story, she said that the Government looks at the private sector as a significant partner in developing India, as it has set 2047 as the year by which India should become a developed country.

“We see a very big role for private sector and we would like to partner with them in this development, where Government can act as a facilitator and an enabler,” she said.

Expressing confidence that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be back for the third term, she said that full budget is expected to be presented in July and she will go for wider consultation. I wish to take this opportunity to just lay the path before us.”We are confident that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is coming back with a good majority. Soon after the government is formed we look forward to a more pointed engagement with CII,” she said.

Highlighting India growth story she expressed confidence that that India’s share in global growth will be near one fifth.  India’s story is a compelling growth story for several reasons. The IMF estimates that India’s contribution to the global growth for 5 years, beginning 2023, will be 18 per cent. Between 2023 and 2028, we are looking at an India that is going to be actually very dynamic,” she said.

While stressing the necessity of enhancing manufacturing capabilities to foster self-reliance and economic growth, she pointed out the importance of sophistication in product manufacturing, highlighting that a concerted effort to expand this sector is crucial. “By bolstering manufacturing, India can not only meet domestic demand more effectively but also reduce dependency on imports, thus advancing towards self-reliance,” she said.

Taking cue from various research reports, she projected that the Indian consumer market is poised to double by 2031. Highlighting various government schemes, she said that all these have given very encouraging results. PLI scheme is transforming the mobile & electronics sector. From 78 per cent import dependency in 2014, today 99 per cent of mobiles sold in India are ‘Made in India’. Value additions in electronics and smartphone manufacturing, too, have grown significantly,” she said.

Mentioning the importance of green energy, she said 2021 report of the World Economy Forum projects that 50 million net new economy jobs are going to be created in India because of that (Green energy, economy) and a one trillion economic impact by the year 2030. “You already see that in solar energy, the push that has been given, due to the favourable policies of the government. The solar energy itself has shown the extent to which job creation possibilities exist at various levels, skill sets,” she said.

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