New Delhi, April 13
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday underlined the reality of a global acknowledgement of the renewed role that India is poised to play in global economic order and the attractiveness of India as an investment destination going forward. “Despite the reality of reset across the globe and the challenges posed by Coivid 19 pandemic, India‘s reform momentum remains unabated,” Sitharaman emphasised at the 2nd Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Washington which is prioritising discussions on global macro economic development, and global economic challenges from April 12-14, 2023.
The Finance Minister elaborated on a host of structural and governance reforms that the Government has laid out through the Union Budget 2023-24 to ensure that the vision for a new India during the ‘Amrit kal’ marking 75 years of its Independence, can be realistically achieved. Sitharaman reiterated that the Government was committed to pursuing the reform agenda for building a stronger and more dynamic India to provide plenty of opportunities for collaboration and investments, and welcomed the participants to join this incredible journey.
The Finance Minister has also underlined the need for reinvigorating the World Bank amid increasing global calls for its reform which, she pointed out, offer a historic opportunity to make the institution ‘fit for purpose’ to achieve sustainable development goals. Participating in a roundtable on the impact of global development challenges and reforms at the WB hosted by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Washington DC on Wednesday, Sitharaman flagged the twin issues confronting evolution of multilateral development bank as building consensus on the definition of global development challenges and secondly augmenting the financial and operational capacity of the WB. “In the true spirit of multilateralism, the MDB evolution dialogue needs to be inclusive, consensus-based and recognise in full measure, the development perspectives and priorities of client countries,” the Finance Minister told the gathering.
Responding to Sitharaman and signalling global interest in India’s prospects, financial institutions like HSBC have appreciated India’s openness to listen to investors and expressed intent on developing sustainable finance and building up HSBC work force in India. Others like Satish Ramen, CSO of Fractal is eager to partner and support the Government in areas like setting up three centres of excellence on artificial intelligence while Vice President of Johnson & Johnson Andrea Masciale sees great promise in India building up the innovation ecosystem.
The Finance Minister also commended the First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Gita Gopinath’s work on accelerating India’s initiative on the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable along with the World Bank and discussed India’s commitment to foster efforts to address growing debt vulnerabilities. Acknowledging the IMF’s support to India’s G20 Presidency in the form of inputs towards developing evidence-based policy guidance, Sitharaman noted IMF’s concerns on key downside risks to the economy including financial sector stress, rising real interest rates, elevated debt, inflation, geo-political fragmentation, and faltering growth in China, as highlighted in the World Economic Outlook.
In another roundtable with US investors and businesses in Washington DC, hosted by FICCI and co-hosted by USISPF, Sitharaman highlighted the structural reforms undertaken by the government to achieve the vision of New India and invited partnerships and investment in India, especially in digitization, infrastructure, environment and climate change, AI, electric mobility and GIFT city. President of FICCI Subhrakant Panda has also supported the Finance Minister in highlighting the opportunity that India offers for global investors in terms of higher growth, size of the economy, demographics and a stable and supportive policy environment.