Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Thursday the Indian economy was doing “well” and on a sustained recovery. She is currently in the US to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Sitharaman said India draws the confidence to wade through the global economic crisis from the use of technology in creating digital public goods. She also mentioned that India’s digital public goods like the Cowin app are available free of charge for any country that wants to use them.
During an interaction at Johns Hopkins University, Sitharaman said, “Our economy is doing well. This is mainly due to the confidence in what has happened in the last two years. The economic revival is on a sustainable path.”
Sitharaman said India is optimistic about its economic prospects even though the country may suffer a dip in exports due to lower global demand amid the recession or pressure on the local currency from rising global interest rates.
“Because of the global recession, when external demand will fall, exports will suffer. If the Indian rupee will suffer because of the strong dollar; All of this has been taken into account. In India there is a sense of confidence that we will get through this and we will still be able to perform. That’s because of the way the technology has been used for the digital common good,” Sitharaman said.
“Today, if India can speak of a digital stack, we are not just talking about payment where UPI is acceptable in other countries. We’re not just talking about Rupay cards, credit cards or check books. We are talking about the QR codes that can be scanned by Android phones. The apps that exist under the larger umbrella of the NPCI – like Bhim and any other payment gateway – won’t be charged either. These are public goods that we created,” Sitharaman said.
“I want to say and reiterate that India’s public goods are available to the countries that need them. For example, we created Cowin at the time of the pandemic. The technology helped rural Indian students not to miss out on education even during the lockdown. They have not neglected education. Telemedicine is now very successful in India,” she added.
The finance minister pointed out that the days when global standards were created and India had to catch up are over. “But on the digital front, be it identity, health, education, payments or compliance requirements, India has set the standard. India has set the global benchmark in the digital economy and the services that digital platforms can deliver to us. That alone is a huge confidence boost for India,” added Sitharaman.
Mentioning that today even small businesses have easier access to small business loans through the use of digital platforms, she said: “Approaches to better, easy loans to sustain businesses are constantly being developed. Big companies find resources, but small ones don’t get support. Today, the little ones not only get help, they can access it from home via digital platforms.”
“These are great lubricants when an economy is finding ways to emerge from lockdowns or external problems of inflation and commodity prices. Despite all of that, I would say these are the building blocks of India’s confidence,” she added.
As part of its ongoing official visit to the US, FM held a high-level meeting with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. FM also attended G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meetings. A number of bilateral talks are also planned during the visit.
