Industry should not hesitate to invest, expand capacities: Sitharaman tells India Inc

New Delhi | Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government has delivered policies as per the expectation of industry, and it's now time for India Inc to invest more and expand capacities.

Speaking at the IFQM Symposium, Sitharaman also asked the industry to partner with the government in skilling youth and also to have a continuous engagement with the government throughout the year, and not just before the Budget.

To a question by Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran on what the industry should be doing now, Sitharaman said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has never relented on reforms, nor has he ignored the wishlist of the industry.

The government has been moving as per the industry's expectations, she said, adding the government has delivered on ease of doing business, tax reforms, opening up FDI, and framing policies conducive for the industry.

"Today I have a basket of things on which the government has delivered... I hope there is no more hesitation for the industry to invest further, to expand capacities, produce more in India, and what else is required by the government to do, spell them out," Sitharaman said.

Responding to the finance minister's call to the industry to make investments, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran acknowledged that the opportunity and the platform that the government has given are enormous, both in the domestic market and in the export market.

"I firmly believe that more entrepreneurs, more small and medium companies and big corporates, would make a lot of investments. I'm very confident, because without that investment, we will not be able to capture the opportunity," he noted.

Stating that "the world is calling for resilience and supply chain, alternative sources", Chandrasekaran said, "India is the best place with the leadership that the honourable Prime Minister provides for all of us." She further said that India's most significant contributor to the GDP is from the MSME sector, and the government has ensured that the Small Industries Development Bank of India is physically present in MSME clusters.

"Even in this day and age when we are talking about digital banking, we insisted that SIDBI would be present in each of these clusters," Sitharaman added.