Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in February asked the industry to shun hesitation and invest to pull the economy out of the stress while making it clear that government spending will never be enough so the industry has to chip in too. “I don’t think in today’s condition it can be just government spending which can pull economy towards growth and we want the industry to stop hesitating... I strongly believe industry today will have to come out of hesitation which you have..,” she said at the post Budget meeting with CII.

Sitharaman said that the biggest priority of the government was to keep the macroeconomic stability unchanged, adding that it was clear that they couldn’t play around or violate the FRBM Act, so they utilised escape clause as given in the Act. The FM said she expected industry to be the engine to pull the economy forward and do its own bit. “I had several interactions with industry leaders before the budget presentations and will be spending time focusing on the implementation of the budget. The government has done its bit on simplifying & cutting corporate tax rates and now expects the industry to be the engine to pull the economy forward as the government spends is not sufficient,” she added.

The Minister said the government will push exports on WTO compliant lines. “We are aiming to push exports which are compliant with WTO norms. We want to support exports while being in compliance with WTO norms,” she said. She also clarified that there is no shift in ‘Make in India’, and the Government is using ‘Assemble in India’ as a platform for it.