Upcoming budget will follow spirit of earlier budgets: Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: The upcoming Union Budget will follow the spirits of the earlier budgets, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.

“We are not only going to set the template which was set earlier but follow it and take it further for India’s next 25 years. In 2047, we look forward to our children living in India which will be far more developed,” she said while addressing the inaugural session of ‘FICCI’s 95th Annual Convention and AGM’ here.

Sitharaman said there is a need to further strengthen the Indian manufacturing sector along with exploring newer areas of the service sector.

“It is necessary to strengthen our manufacturing sector and in that Indian start-ups have shown us the way by bringing more innovation. I would urge the industry to keep close watch on the innovations coming from the start-ups. The manufacturing sector can benefit from the new energy of the start-ups for all sectors including the sunrise sector,” she said.

Speaking on the global uncertainties, the Finance Minister urged the Indian industry to focus on the opportunities arising from them.

“The suspected long drawn recession which is likely to affect in West will not just impact your (industry) exports but it gives us an opportunity for many of the investments which are now looking for a different place from where the activities can continue to happen. It is the best time for the Indian industry to work on strategies for drawing those manufacturers to India,” she added.

The Minister advised Indian industry that as the world transitions into clean energy, the domestic industry could face higher tariffs by the developed countries.

She also urged the industry to tell the government on how climate change is affecting them and suggest ways to reduce the burden of cost falling on them.

“The industry should prepare itself for tariff walls by some countries in the name of climate change,” she said.

Speaking on the G20, Sitharaman said India’s achievements in terms of the digital capabilities that we have including financial area, payments area, banking, health or education, the achievements are stunning.

“The government is using every opportunity during the G20 to showcase it so that countries which are interested in any of the digital achievements of India can benefit from it,” she added.

Highlighting the domestic demand potential, Sitharaman said as per the World Economic Forum’s report, there will be an additional 140 million middle income households and 14 million high net worth individual households which will be part of India’s economy by 2030.

This will provide an additional base for the domestic industry to generate demand, she added.