‘Economy is at its robust level and macroeconomics at best’: Sitharaman asserts country’s FDI is at all-time high

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that the economy is at its “robust-level” and asserted the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country is at an all-time high.

She made the comments while interacting with industry traders in Chennai at an event titled ‘Jan Jan ka Budget’.

“Economy is at its robust level and macroeconomics is at its best. The fundamentals are strong. The foreign exchange reserves and FDI investments are at their maximum level,” she said.

Sitharaman also said that there is also a plan by Centre to increase the interaction of banking officials.

“Officials of Ministry to reach put to MSME entrepreneurs at the field level,” she added.

Talking about the issue of sanctioning loans, the Finance Minister said, “If the banks are denying loans without reason to the MSMEs they are welcome to send their complaints by mail to a special centre which is to be announced shortly. A copy of the same should be sent to the bank manager.” Sitharaman exuded confidence that “India will get back to 8 per cent growth” and said the government is making efforts to “pursue the goals”.

Notably, the year 2019 was a difficult year for the global economy with the world output growth estimated to grow at its slowest pace of 2.9 per cent since the global financial crisis of 2009, declining from a subdued 3.6 per cent in 2018 and 3.8 per cent in 2017.

Uncertainties, although declining, are still elevated due to the protectionist tendencies of China and the United States, and rising US-Iran geopolitical tensions.

Amid a weak environment for global manufacturing, trade and demand, the Indian economy slowed down with GDP growth moderating to 4.8 per cent in the first half of 2019-20, lower than 6.2 per cent in the second half of 2018-19.

Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the budget presented by her last week provides a “discreet and considered” stimulus.

Speaking to industry representatives in the financial capital, Sitharaman said the budget draws on experiences of all the past instances of a slowdown in growth where the government has had to provide for a booster.

It can be noted that some constituencies have expressed disappointment with the budget for not having any big announcements, especially at a time when growth has slipped to a decadal low.

The finance ministry expects at least 80 per cent of the taxpayers to move to the new income tax regime, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said on Friday.