Finance minister asks for greater push and investment in the manufacturing sector at the CII Annual Summit

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked for a greater push to the manufacturing sector. Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit 2024 in Delhi on Friday, Sitharaman said many suggest India has a bigger opportunity in services but we can’t ignore manufacturing and it must be pushed with greater investment and help from government policies.

“Manufacturing must increase, India must also increase manufacturing with the help of policies, its share in manufacturing in global value chains. So we need to have greater sophistication in our product manufacturing and we also need to see how this can be given the best policy support” said the minister.

During the event, the minister highlighted the IMF report which says, India’s contribution to global growth will be 18 per cent over the next five years beginning in 2023. The minister also shared that the year 2023 to 2028 will be very dynamic for India’s growth.

“IMF estimated that India’s contribution to the global growth for five years beginning 2023, will be 18 per cent, So between 2023 and 2028 we are looking at an India which will be dynamic contributing to 18 per cent to the global growth,” said the minister.

The minister also highlighted that India’s growth story is a compelling growth story she quoted the S&P global market intelligence outlook and shared about the growing consumer market in India.

“The Indian consumer market is likely to double by 2031, there is 2.9 trillion-dollar opportunity in that. The report also suggests that consumer spending on food in India is estimated to rise to 1.4 trillion US dollars, again one trillion dollar opportunity lies in waiting” the minister added.

Quoting the S&P report the minister further adds that the opportunities in India’s financial market is great too “Spending on financial services will climb to 670 billion us dollars, there is 390 billion opportunity waiting for us. These are the opportunities that are untapped till now”

Sitharaman said that according to the World Economic Forum projections 50 million net jobs will be created in India from green energy and it will ass USD 1 trillion to the economy of the country.

“WEF projects 50 million net economy jobs are going to be created in India from green energy and 1 trillion economic impact by the year 2030. The solar energy has itself shown the extent to which job creation policy exists” said the minister

Highlighting the improvement in the financial sector of India the minister pointed out the resolutions by the government of the twin balance sheet problem in India where the balance sheet of banks and corporates both were affected due to the rising NPA’s and non-payment of dues.

She said “RBI and government survey report said from those twin balance sheet problems of 2013-14 today it is twin balance sheet advantage situation. So both corporate and financial sector balance sheets have not just turned around but are in pink to help.

She added that the “twin balance sheet advantage is there for both the opportunity and confidence element that this situation gives us.”

The CII conference catalyzes conversations along 6 tracks which include Growth and Development, Green Economy, India and the World, Advanced Technology and Innovation, Employment and Livelihood, Startups, and New Age Businesses. The CII Annual Business Summit is a two-day summit in Delhi on May 17-18.