`Businesses can no longer be just attracted by policies or by the openness of an economy. The risk that the investors and businesses will have to factor into their decision-making is going to be strongly influenced by the impact of global terror,’’ Nirmala Sitharaman said
New Delhi:
Cautioning the investors and business on the impact of terrorism across the globe that is no longer an occasional one and where no one region is spared, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said with that level of risk or uncertainty coming into business decision-making on the issue, any investments will face uncertainty and high risk permanently.
“Businesses can no longer be just attracted by policies or by the openness of an economy. The risk that the investors and businesses will have to factor into their decision-making is going to be strongly influenced by the impact of global terror,’’ Sitharaman said while delivering the inaugural address at Kautilya Economic Conclave 2023.
On the focus of the Government of India on empowering citizens through digitisation, Union Finance Minister said, “India is opening up and bringing greater transparency through the digital economy. There’s no more powerful tool than Digitisation to empower citizens, who otherwise would’ve remained very far from their developmental aspirations being met.”
Speaking on the Financial Inclusion programme of the Government of India, Smt. Sitharaman said, “Jan Dhan Accounts have been the biggest instrument of bringing financial inclusion to the country. When it was launched in 2014, people raised questions, saying that these would be zero-balance accounts and would be a burden on the Public Sector Banks (PSBs). Today, these Jan Dhan Accounts have total balance of more than Rs 2 lakh crore.”
During COVID-19, due to these Jan Dhan Accounts, the poorest of the poor received money in their accounts from the government to fulfill their essential needs, the Union Finance Minister said.
On maintaining the aspirations of the fastest-growing economy in the world with focus on environment sustainability, Sitharaman said, “Under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi, India used its own resources to fulfill its Nationally Determined Commitments (NDCs) as outlined in the Paris Agreement.
Anyone suggesting that this should be an obvious course of action must also consider that developing countries may not have the financial capacity for such significant climate financing, she pointed out.
“Consider a country like India, where developmental goals and aspirations are being achieved at an unprecedented pace and where a significant portion of the population still requires support. The question arises: Where will the necessary funds come from?”, the union finance minister asked.