Globalisation must be tempered to local needs: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman calls for globalisation that aligns with local requirements, emphasising humanism and ethical practices at the IICA North East Conclave in Shillong

The need of the hour is to have globalisation that is tempered to the local needs and a capitalism with a level of humanism, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.

 

Speaking at the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) North East Conclave in Shillong, Meghalaya the finance minister said, “We don’t need globalism which is going to sweep us out. What we need now here is to embed your business with more accountable practices.”

 

Sitharaman was talking in context of ethical principles that govern the north east region, one of which, she said, was to respect kinship and community, reflecting the essence of stakeholder capitalism.

 

FM stressed the need for the north east region to have better logistics such as airlifting and warehousing facilities to transport their goods across the country with greater speed and efficiency.

 

“There is a lot of work yet to happen, this is my grievance and for that, I think a lot more work has to be done. There’s no way in which by now, pineapples have to travel by road all the way to Mumbai,” Sitharaman said. 

 

The IICA, which is an organisation under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, has set up its second campus in Shillong.

 

The IICA, set up in 2006, works as a think tank assisting MCA as well as for capacity building for public and private sector professionals in corporate governance and public policy.

 

The Finance Minister, while highlighting that there were 2,300 DPIIT-recognised startups in the North-East region of which 69 based were based in Meghalaya, said, “It is important that institutions like IIM Shillong help in cross-pollination, get all the professionals together, meet up every now and then. And now that IICA is here, they should become the agents of bringing people together so that greater discussions and compliance-related issues can be addressed.”

 

Praising the setting up of IICA branch in Shillong, Sitharaman said that youngsters were very quickly catching up with what the world wants them to do, and if the policy support also comes in parallely, it marks a very good stage for entrepreneurship development.