Innovation to be key in making India developed nation by 2047: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Sitharaman said innovation is going to be key factor in making India a developed nation by 2047, as she highlighted the immense potential of digitalisation in achieving this

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said innovation is going to be key factor in making India a developed nation by 2047, as she highlighted the immense potential of digitalisation in achieving this.

She also said that if the same momentum that was seen through COVID-19 and immediately after that continues, and if all countrymen put their efforts together, building India as a developed economy by 2047 should not be difficult.

"Innovation is going to be the key for many things that we can do between now and 2047. It is because of the innovation, the solutions which we have for very many of the festering problems of this economy, we can achieve that desired developed economy status," Sitharaman said.

Also highlighting the emphasis that is being laid on further digitalisation, whether into medical services, education and Software as a service (SaaS), she said there is immense potential to take it up further.

The Finance Minister was addressing the 105th Annual General Meeting of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) here.

Noting that India went through the pandemic with of course sufferings, but succeeded in keeping itself steady and businesses came out of it, the Minister said, "We have lots more to do, I'm not saying that we have succeeded in achieving everything that we want, but we have come out."

"There is more assistance needed by some sections, we are attending to them, as and when we hear from them."

Pointing out that even developed world has suffered and the countries belonging to the developed world are suffering on many parameters, whether it is inflation management, giving access to vaccination to the needy, reaching out to the poorest of poor, Sitharaman said, "you will find that different countries have had experiences, very different from what India has had."

She said, India, despite being a large country with huge population and different access with respect to road or any other parameter, because of the technological revolution of sorts that happened much before the pandemic there was access to technology to provide relief, reach people and for the transparent process.

For a country that is described as an emerging market, and is still referred to as a developing economy, the achievements of India through the vaccination, through the relief which was provided for the people, through the way we have reached out to small and medium businesses, stand out in comparison to the rest of the world, she added.

The Minister further said, targeted reaching out of help, relief provision and fiscal remedies have all paid off in such a way that it is now noticeable by everybody and it is also showing on the Indian people's own confidence level.