Next gen reforms to top third-term agenda, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Sitharaman said that among other areas of focus, the government is also going to ramp up investment in the logistics sector which has immense untapped potential along with tourism

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the next-generation reforms would be on top of the government’s agenda in its third term. 

The plan will touch upon factors of production, such as land, labour, capital, and entrepreneurship, along with digital infrastructure. 

Her statement comes a day after she met startup and fintech ecosystem stakeholders to address their concerns and encourage them to continue innovations while keeping a close watch on regulatory norms. 

“The reforms will touch on all factors of production — be it land, labour or capital. I’ll also add one, which may not fit into the traditional definition of what factors of production are, and that is digital infrastructure,” she said at the Federation of Indian Chambers and Commerce of Industry’s national conclave on Viksit Bharat@2047: Viksit Bharat & Industry. 

The government, she said, was looking at investment and innovation in artificial intelligence, policy support for expanding the space sector and semiconductor, precious metals and their warehousing as well. It will also ramp up investment in the logistics sector that has immense untapped potential along with tourism.   

She said India had shown how public investment is creating digital infrastructure at the bottom, and scaling it up has given the country the proverbial India stack —  building it up brick by brick.  

“The reason why the prime minister is confident that a third term (for the government) is going to ensure India reaches the level of the third- largest economy is because of the push in these areas. Not just fiscal push, but legislative and other push as well,” Sitharaman said.       

During the Group of 20 (G20) summit, the finance minister said, countries expressed their appreciation of what India had done in terms of spreading the digital public infrastructure and its virtue in scaling up the development goals. “This is your modern day factor of production, without which you won't be able to scale up and bridge the gap between those who are still aspiring to develop and move forward,” she said. 

Pushing the industry to increase investments, Sitharaman said they should move forward with a great speed if global investments are coming in and look for greater joint venture partners around the world. “They’re coming in because they see prospects here…It is time for Indian industry to join this game in a big way,” she added.