New Delhi:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will return to power in 2024 with a “good majority” and that global investors need not be “nervous”. She also said the government is committed to systemic reforms to accelerate the pace of growth.
By participating in a debate hosted virtually by the India Global Forum, she said, investors “don’t have to be nervous at all” about the outcome of the general elections due in April-May 2024.
“…keeping their (investors) fingers crossed is normal and I can understand that. But here I am and there are also several people who are observing the Indian economy, observing the political environment, observing the ground level reality and the situation as it prevails today, Prime Minister Modi is coming back and coming back with a large majority,” she pointed out.
The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken several initiatives that have transformed the lives of every Indian and improved the business environment.
So she said, “It’s not like this government has worked for some and not others. It’s worked for everyone.”
On the employment front, she said the government has committed to provide 10 lakh jobs to the country’s youth by December this year through the monthly Rojgar Mela event.
Of this, she said, around Rs 8 lakh has been provided by the central government so far this year.
Talking about climate action, the Finance Minister said that India is making progress on this through its own resources.
“The Paris commitment we made was financed by us. We didn’t wait for the $100 billion that’s never on the table… lots of talk but no money coming… no way to show how technology is going to be transferred,” she said.
An additional problem is that the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy will be challenging, especially for developing and emerging market economies when it comes to financing the transition.
Asked about the impact of the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza on the India-Middle East-Europe Connectivity Corridor (IMEC), she said it is a long-term project and will not depend on one major event or the other. .
So it will face challenges due to one event or another, but it has its own strength, she said, adding that countries directly or indirectly involved in this project are absolutely clear that it will be crucial for world trade. , global partnerships.
The IMEC was signed during the 18th G-20 Summit in New Delhi in September. It is a multimodal economic corridor that will include multiple shipping, rail and road networks and will also include electricity cables, high-speed data cables and a hydrogen pipeline.
The corridor is expected to create a reliable and cost-effective cross-border transit network between ships and rail to complement existing maritime and road transport, and facilitate trade and connectivity, leading to the economic integration of South Asia, West Asia and Europe. and the Middle East.
The IMEC will connect Indian ports such as Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, Mundra (Gujarat) and Kandla (Gujarat) with West Asian ports such as Fujairah, Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, and the Saudi Arabian ports of Dammam. Ras Al Khair and Ghuwaifat.
Then there is a rail segment that will continue the IMEC and connect to the Saudi Arabian cities of Haradh and Al Haditha, and on to the port of Haifa in Israel.
The final segment, which some call the Northern Corridor, will again be a maritime segment connecting the Port of Haifa to the Greek Port of Piraeus and there to Europe.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)