Nirmala Sitharaman - Why India Will Be Among The Fastest Growing Economies?

The big challenge for Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, whose first full-year budget (Feb 1, 2020) coincided with the onset of coronavirus in India, was negotiating the macroeconomic crisis that followed. Now, as the threat seems to abate, multiple green shoots of revival are visible. In an exclusive interaction with Fortune India, Sitharaman explains how the government handled the pandemic, how daily monitoring of credit guarantee schemes helped disbursals, and why she believes that India will be among the fastest growing economies in the years ahead.

- Rajeev Dubey, Ashutosh Kumar & Joe C. Mathew

THIS EDITED Q&A HAS BEEN CONDENSED FOR SPACE AND CLARITY.

THE MACRO PICTURE

CEOs of businesses entrenched in rural India say it’s holding up the economy due to the stimulus. In the first quarter, GDP grew 20%, albeit on a low base. What progress do you expect on economic growth in this year and the next? On never losing the opportunity— whenever it arises—of expanding the domain of people who are benefitted by steps that you take, I certainly would think the exemplar before me is Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has attempted at every moment to ensure that the steps he takes, the policy changes he brings in, his intervention into the economy and the relief that he provides to the masses are aimed at the bottom-most level, which is the most remote from decision-making centres—the common man and small businesses.

Using technology, PM Modi tries to reach out to all sections of people. So, on that score, my exemplar obviously is before me. The person who guides everything that we do in this ministry is the prime minister.

Similarly, being given that opportunity, I have kept that (idea) before me, because I also come from a middle-class background and understand the struggle that people face, especially in this kind of a situation.