Banks, rupee should be key in global trade: PM
NEW DELHI: India needs to make its financial system and its currency a more integral part of the international trade and supply chain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, inaugurating a series of events over the week to mark the government’s “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” campaign.
The campaign is meant to showcase the government’s efforts and outline longer-term objectives and initiatives in the run-up to India celebrating its 75 years of Independence next year.
Modi, in keeping with the theme, highlighted the financial inclusion programmes and said that these must be popularised further and expanded to cover trade.
“It is necessary to focus on how to make our domestic banks, currency an important part of international supply chain and trade,” the PM said, adding that, “in the last 8 years”, India has shown that if it collectively decides to do something, the country “becomes a new hope for the world”.
The PM reiterated a statement he made recently, identifying India as a key player in efforts to solve global issues.
“Today, the world is looking at us not just as a big consumer market but looking at us with hope and confidence as a capable, game-changing, creative, innovative ecosystem,” he added.
Modi’s comments come at a time when the international trade order has been disrupted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with sanctions by Western nations disrupting typical payment frameworks and routes, forcing India, among several other nations, to buy oil from Moscow in either of the country’s currency.
The PM also said that his government, which recently completed eight years in office, was making welfare schemes “people-centric” instead of “the government centric approach of the past”.
He exhorted government staff to reduce bureaucratic hurdles for the people. “It should be our responsibility to reach to all those who need help,” he said, citing the example of the integrated credit portal ‘Jan Samarth’ he launched on Monday.
The portal, an initiative of the Union finance ministry, is a onestop gateway for over a dozen of the government’s credit-linked schemes directly connecting beneficiaries to lenders.
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who also heads the corporate affairs ministry, recalled Modi’s speech eight years ago saying this government is dedicated to the cause of common citizens, particularly the poor and backward in every way. She added that spirit Modi has ensured that all of them follow.
Sitharaman said the portal “will act as a single platform for loan application and processing” under credit-linked government schemes.
Already 13 schemes and over 125 lending institutions have joined the portal, she said.
The launch of the portal will improve the lives of students, farmers, businessmen, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises entrepreneurs and will help them in realising their dreams, Modi said.
He added that the portal will also help the start-up ecosystem.
He reiterated that there was a changed approach to governance since 2014 in terms of increasing public participation which, he added, gave impetus to the development of the country and empowered the poor.
The PM cited the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan [Clean India Initiative]’ as one of these, giving an opportunity to the poor to live with dignity, while facilities such as concrete houses, electricity, gas, water, and free treatment increased the dignity of the poor.
“The scheme of free rations during the Corona period freed more than 80 crore [800 million] countrymen from the fear of hunger. We are witnessing a new confidence among the citizens to come out of the mentality of deprivation and dream big.”
The Prime Minister also brought up the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and government’s e-marketplace GeM portal as examples of simplification of citizen services.
“GST has now replaced the web of many taxes at the Centre and the state. The country is also seeing the result of this simplification. Now it has become normal for GST collection to cross Rs 1 lakh crore every month,” he said. He said the GeM portal has reformed procurement process and made selling to the government very easy. Purchase figure for the portal has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, he added.
Modi also inaugurated a digital exhibition, which traces the journey of the ministries of finance and corporate affairs over the past eight years and separately released special series of ₹1, ₹2, ₹5, ₹10, and ₹20 coins having the logo of AKAM (Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav) and features so that they can be easily identifiable to the visually impaired persons.
The Modi government’s AKAM plan rests on five pillars – “freedom struggle, ideas at 75, achievements at 75, actions at 75, and resolve at 75”.
Both finance and corporate affairs ministries have important roles to play in the vision envisaged by Modi.
Presenting the Union Budget on February 1, Sitharaman said: “… we are marking Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, and have entered into Amrit Kaal, the 25-year-long leadup to India@100. Hon’ble Prime Minister in his Independence Day address had set out the vision for India@100.” She added the core areas of focus would be all-inclusive development, promotion of digital economy and fintech, energy transition, climate action, and relying on a “virtuous cycle” kicking off from private investment with public capital investment helping in the endeavour.