Prime Minister emphasises on foreign capital flows and infrastructure financing
Finance Minister says Union Budget aptly supports next phase of growth and aspirational economy
Ministry of Finance Webinar witnesses in-depth discussions on themes of finance, infrastructure, banking, digital economy, climate finance and sunrise sectorsPosted Date:- Mar 08, 2022
The Ministry of Finance organised a Post-Budget Webinar on theme of ‘Financing for growth and aspirational economy’ here today. The Webinar witnessed participation from several Ministries, NITI Aayog, Capacity Building Commission and State Governments and from regulators like RBI, SEBI, IFSCA, IRDAI, NABARD, GIFT City, Industry associations and subject Matter Experts/ Investor community.
In the inaugural address, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi emphasised on the importance of foreign capital flows, reduction in taxes to attract infrastructure investment and boosting India’s financial and economic growth through established institutions such as National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), GIFT City and Development Financial Institution (DFI). The Prime Minister instilled confidence among stakeholders to make efforts to bring atleast 10 sectors in the economy in first three positions around the globe. Shri Narendra Modi further stressed upon the role of financial institutions through reforms such as Aspirational District Programme in achieving financial inclusion in the country. The Prime Minister also laid importance on Skill development under Industry 4.0.
The Prime Minister stated in his inaugural address that the purpose of the webinar is to come out with achievable outcomes and implement the Union Budget 2022-23 in a time bound manner. Shri Narendra Modi exhorted the panellist, participants and experts from the industry to share real life experiences, issues faced by them and discuss possible solutions to deal with the issues.
Later, in the closing plenary session, the Moderators presented the key takeaways discussed during the breakaway sessions before Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.
In her concluding address to the Webinar, the Finance Minister thanked the leadership of Prime Minister and reiterated that through PM’s vision and strategy, the Union Budget aptly supports the next phase of growth and aspirational economy: a digitally led transformation of all sectors of the economy, building modern infrastructure funded by massive public investment, encouraging private investment in areas with high employment potential, expanding banking and finance, transitioning to clean energy, adoption of climate action, climate and sustainable finance and financing sunrise sectors. Smt. Sitharaman further commended on the choice of themes for the sessions that were aptly based on ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat ka Budget’ for an aspirational economy.
The Finance Minister noted that substantial leeway has been provided to sectors such as Climate Action, Deep-Tech, Digital Economy, Pharma and Agri-Tec with announcement of the Government’s decision to promote thematic funds for blended finance. She apprised the participants that the Government of India and RBI had taken a number of steps to increase the flow of credit to MSMEs and shall continue to do so. Considering the socio-economic importance of the housing sector, steps have been taken by providing fiscal benefits to the target consumer and by granting infrastructure status to the affordable housing industry.
While concluding her address, the Finance Minister recapitulated government’s announcement in the Union Budget 2022-23 to set up 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) in 75 Districts of the country with a purpose to reduce dependency and to do away with paperwork like cheques, pay-in slips, demand drafts and carry-out these works digitally, as another step towards financial inclusion.
Earlier, after inaugural address by the Prime Minister, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and Department of Financial Services (DFS) led five thematic breakaway sessions simultaneously.
The panel discussion on theme of Financing of Infrastructure was moderated by Shri Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), and witnessed the deliberations from esteemed panellist comprising Sh K.V. Kamath, Chairman, NaBFID; Shri Dinesh Kumar Khara, CMD, SBI; Shri Shri Suresh Goyal, MD and CEO NHAI INVIT; Ms. Anita Amrangoly George, Sustainable Investment expert, Ex MD CDPQ; Shri Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman, CII and Mr Hoe Yun Jeong, Deputy Country Director, ADB. The panellist discussed NaBFID, PPP, Debt Financing, Takeout Financing and Employment focus as sub-themes.
The panel discussion on the theme of Financing Sectors with High employment potential was moderated by Shri Sanjeev Kaushik, Additional Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS) and witnessed the deliberations from esteemed panellist comprising Shri Sanjiv Chadha, MD & CEO Bank of Baroda; Shri Sharad Sharma, Co-Founder, iSPIRT; Shri G.R. Chintala, Chairman NABARD; Shri Prasun Kumar Das, Secretary General, APRACA; Shri Sarada Kumar Hota, MD, NHB; Shri Adi Kesavan, CGM, SBI and Shri Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Property Consultant Pvt Ltd. The panellist discussed Agriculture, MSME and Housing as sub-themes.
The panel discussion on the theme of Creating Enablers of Infrastructure was moderated by Shri Peeyush Kumar, Joint Secretary, DEA, and witnessed the deliberations from esteemed panellist comprising Shri Adil Zainulbhai, Capacity Building Commission; Mr Junaid Kamal Ahmad, Country Director, World Bank; Hon’ble Justice (Retd.) A.K. Sikri, renowned Arbitrator; Dr. Pravir Sinha, MD & CEO, Tata Power; Shri Krishna Chaitnya Rao, International Expert on Sanitation projects. The panelist discussed Capacity Building, Enhanced Viability for Infrastructure, Contract enforcement -Conciliation Mechanism and GIFT IFSC as hub for global arbitration as sub-themes.
The panel discussion on the theme of Navigating the digital opportunity for Banking and Finance was moderated by Shri Sanjay Malhotra, Secretary, DFS and witnessed the deliberations from esteemed panellist comprising Shri T. Rabi Sankar, DG, RBI; Shri Uday Kotak, MD & CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank; Shri Ram Rastogi, Member of Governance Council, FACE; Shri Nitin Kamath, MD & CEO, Zerodha; Shri Dilip Asbe, MD & CEO, NPCI; Shri Sameer Nigam, MD, Phone Pe; Shri C.S. Setty, MD, SBI and Shri Ashish Garg, Member, BCG. The panellist discussed Digital Banking-Digital banking units, Neo Banks, Financial Inclusion and last mile reach; Digital Payments-Building on the momentum and Digital Currency-Way Forward as sub-themes.
The panel discussion on the theme of Climate and Sustainable Finance & Financing for Sunrise Sectors was moderated by Shri Anand Mohan Bajaj, Additional Secretary, DEA, and witnessed the deliberations from esteemed panelist comprising Prof. Amit Garg, IIM (A); Shri Gopal Srinivasan, CMD, TVS Capital; Ms Kaku Nahate, India Head, Bank of America; Shri Prakash Subramanian, MD Strategy Standard Chartered Bank; Ms. Roshika Singh, Senior Country Officer, IFC and Shri C.K. Mishra, Ex-Secretary, MoEFCC. The panelist discussed Climate Finance for sustainable development, Sovereign Green Bonds, Finance for Start-ups & Sunrise Sectors and Pooling of global capital for Sustainable Finance-GIFT IFSC as sub-themes.
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