Need to make globalization more transparent: FM Sitharaman

It's not to say that we have to reverse the benefits of globalization. It is more to say, make globalization more transparent

Washington: India is not seeking to reverse the benefits of globalization, but is asking that it be made more transparent, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Monday. "It's not to say that we have to reverse the benefits of globalization. It is more to say, make globalization more transparent," Sitharaman told a prominent American think-tank Peterson Institute for International Economics in response to a question.

For a very long time, it has been India's attempts to make sure its manufacturing sector grows. "We have a big play. We also don't import final consumer goods, which we are capable of manufacturing. However, when you have price discrepancies or price competitiveness affecting your purchasing decisions, you end up buying those which you can produce because they come at a far more, cheaper rate," she said. "So, Indians have always had this difficulty in having to come back to producing certain things which are your day-to-day domestic necessities, but you are unable to produce because you find cheaper imports coming or the very same requirement. But now we've seen that there is an opportunity which lies, one from the consumer point of view, that even within India, there's enough purchasing power. And many of these goods which can be produced in India will have a definitive large consumer base within the country," she said.

So, catering to the domestic market itself has become now attractive for many of those producers who wouldn't have produced such things which were otherwise available for cheap from outside, she noted. "The phase manufacturing programmes that we have come up with, have identified several such goods, which at the first stage, we would gradually incentivize producing and selling within India, then move over to a higher level of sophistication in the making of such goods. So, the domestic market itself is available for you to produce, gradually stop imports of such things which you can produce yourselves," she said.

Sitharaman said this is one side of the story. "The other side is where you need to have value chains come to India, come and produce in India, not just for India, but to export from India, for which again, we have come up with a production-linked incentive scheme, particularly in 13 such areas, which are priority sectors, sunrise sectors, where India didn't produce at all earlier". By doing that, India hopes to have production of many of these large bulk manufactured goods, which can go from India to meet demands which exist outside, and also of course to meet domestic demand.

‘India’s focus going to be on skilling, digitization’

Washington: India's focus is going to be on skilling and digitisation so that there's greater ease of living, transparency and formalisation of the economy, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said, observing that the country is reaching near saturation in providing the basic facilities to the people. Speaking at a fireside chat at the Peterson Institute for International Economic think-tank on Monday, Sitharaman said the approach of the government is to empower the poor people with at least the basic amenities.

"We are reaching near saturation in providing the basic facilities in India," she said. She noted that the discussions earlier used to be on poverty alleviation. "Have we removed these many numbers of people from poverty and lifted them out," she said. Sitharaman talked about the facilities the Indian government is wanting to extend to the poor in the country.

"And that is to give them some good house to live in, which is made of concrete and not thatched roof with toilets in them, with drinking water reaching them through pipes, electricity, and a good road, not just to the village, but also to the streets in the village and then connect them to the nearest highway; connect them with good transport facility and so on and financial inclusion so that each member of the household has a bank account and they get every such benefit, which has to reach them, but directly into their bank account rather than through a middle agency," she said.

"So, in each one of these, we are reaching saturation, which means if there are a hundred people today who are eligible to get them, they would get, we are near 98 points 99. And of course, newer people can get added as the population grows, we'll keep attending to them," Sitharaman added.

‘India wants WTO to be more progressive’

Washington: India wants the World Trade Organization to be more progressive and listening to other countries, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Monday asserting that the WTO needs to give more space to the countries which have something different to say and not just hear. "I would like the WTO to be a lot more progressive, a lot more listening to all countries, to be fair to all members," Sitharaman said during a fire-side chat at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a top American think-tank here.

"I, fortunately, unfortunately spent some time with the WTO in my capacity as a commerce minister of India between 2014 and 2017. It has to give more space to hear voices of countries which have something different to say and not just hear, but also somewhat heed because today's message for the WTO should be to have greater openness," Sitharaman asserted.

"In fact, I'm not quoting, in the context of WTO, but it might be useful to recall the words of US Commerce Secretary (sic), Katherine Tai. She had recently spoken and I was very, very impressed, if I can use that word, about what exactly is the traditional trading approach. What exactly is liberalizing the market? What would it actually mean in terms of tariff reduction?" she said.

"It is true now, countries do look at it. It is a time when countries are looking at what extent to which you would want to have market liberalization. It has had cost repercussions for the US economy, and that's exactly what the US Secretary Commerce has said. And if that's something which the United States Commerce Secretary feels, I felt the same in 2014 and 2015.