'Not going back to licence raj'

In an exclusive interview, Sitharaman says focus is on sunrise sectors, job creation

- ASIT RANJAN MISHRA, SHRIMI CHOUDHARY RUCHIKA CHITRAVANSHI

Job creation is a priority for the government and the Centre is not moving towards a licence raj, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said amid growing apprehension about unemployment and protectionist measures such as curbs on laptop imports. The FM told Business Standard in an interview at her North Block office on Thursday that sunrise sectors and those which can have a big bearing on jobs were given priority.

"So we have to tailor it to suit the demands that we have in our list," she said, while explaining the rationale behind choosing sectors for the production-linked incentive scheme. Sitharaman said the domestic support to the companies would be specific and phased out in a time-bound manner. "We are equally concerned that unless we give support to some areas of manufacturing, they will never be able to standup. But that is not going back to the licence raj. It was very specific, targeted and for a limited time and not going to be permanent," she said.