Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stressed that India needs a new paradigm to achieve sustained growth. This paradigm would involve implementing aggressive reforms, enhancing domestic capacities, and forming strategic institutional partnerships to drive two decades of steady growth.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman noted that the past two Union Budgets have laid the groundwork for transformative change. Addressing the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, California, she highlighted a clear multi-sectoral policy agenda driving this shift.
Maintaining India's growth momentum over the next two decades requires a new approach based on bold reforms, enhanced domestic capacities, renewed institutional partnerships, and adaptive strategies appropriate for the changing global environment, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said during an event in San Francisco.
Addressing the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the minister stated that the previous two budgets have set the stage for this change, with a clear multi-sectoral policy agenda.
Though the recent global events look "formidable," they are full of promise, she added, stating that India and the US can join hands in a number of areas, ranging from semiconductors to power generation, quantum computing, and pharma.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reduced India's growth forecast by 30 bps to 6.2% for FY26 due to increased trade tensions and global uncertainty.
While establishing the foundations for an emerging India, we need to remain committed to long-term objectives without compromising on current realities. The world order is undergoing a shift.
That is challenging but also presents opportunities. We have to be willing to face the former while grasping the latter," she said.
India has also targeted becoming a developed country by 2047, the 100th anniversary of independence.
She added that a major push towards infrastructure development by more than four times the growth in the capital spending of the union government between 2017-18 and the budget of 2025-26 has laid a robust foundation for manufacturing-led growth by boosting investor confidence.
Reducing regulatory frictions, digitizing approvals, and mainstreaming MSMEs into global value chains is our next area of focus. Special attention to women-led and rural businesses will facilitate greater economic opportunities and more inclusive growth," she added.
In the past decade, the government has implemented structural reforms, rationalized more than 20,000 compliances, decriminalized business laws, and digitalized public services to minimize friction.
The US and India have had a long history of economic cooperation, which can be deepened to facilitate industry participation and partnership and investments in a number of key sectors," she added.
Emphasizing that manufacturing is a prime driver of transformation, Sitharaman said the sector is a force multiplier for the growth of the services sector and not vice versa."
Conclusion
Nirmala Sitharaman's speech marks a proactive, reform-focused India ready to take advantage of the changing world. Improved infrastructure, simplified rules and manufacturing, and an inclusive growth focus, accompanied by more robust US ties, may draw heavy investment and propel India towards its 2047 development target despite short-term world headwinds.