Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the budget she presented before the Parliament last week provides a “discreet and considered” stimulus.
She made the comments while speaking to industry representatives in the financial capital. The minister said that 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.
“Based on the experiences that we had in the last round of government trying to provide stimulus, We’ve essentially made sure that we are doing it in a very discreet and considered manner,” Sitharaman said at the interaction.
Union Budget 2020-21 has brought disappointment to some constituencies as it did not have any big announcements, especially at a time when growth has slipped to a decadal low.
“We kept the macroeconomic fundamentals in mind and made sure that the necessary stimulus which was the demand of the time, both for increasing consumption and also for ensuring investments in long-term asset building as a means to providing stimulus will be taken up,” she added.
Sitharaman further said unlike the past instances of providing for a stimulus, the remedies that the budget has provided are “very focused, very clear that it is going in a well chalked out path with a clear intention of spending responsibly in building capital assets”.
She pointed out that the rural and farm sector had got attention through the 16-point agenda, startups have been given a fillip and infrastructure investments have also been taken up.
“The remedy is a considered remedy. I’m sure discerning people will be able to see why it is so,” she said.
Sitharaman said divestments are necessary to get transparency in the working of companies by making necessary disclosures she also added that the government will only sell those companies where it sees no strategic rationale in running those.
(With input from agencies)