Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said India’s growth will be driven by fiscal spending, the PTI reported. The minister, while speaking on India’s growth outlook, said India’s economic growth will continue to be supported by fiscal spending along with an investment push, imparting momentum to the economy based on the idea of growth at macro level complemented by all-inclusive welfare at micro level.
Sitharaman, who was participating virtually in the second BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under the chairmanship of China, mentioned BRICS should continue to serve as a platform to engage in dialogues and facilitate exchange of experiences, concerns, and ideas for rebuilding a sustainable and inclusive growth trajectory.
According to the report, the central government has proposed to step up the public investment by raising capital expenditure by 35.4 per cent to Rs 7.5 lakh crore, which is 2.9 per cent of the GDP in the current financial year.
At the meeting, the BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors also talked about other legacy BRICS finance issues such as infrastructure investment, New Development Bank (NDB), BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), etc.
National Asset Reconstruction Company in place
Meanwhile, the finance ministry has said the Rs 6,000-crore National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL) or bad bank is expected to take over the first set of non-performing accounts (NPAs) of banks next month.
NARCL is a special purpose asset reconstruction firm for taking over the large value NPAs (above Rs 500 crore) from banks. In a series of tweets, the ministry said Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday reviewed the progress in setting up the NARCL. She was also apprised of the progress achieved and took note of the approvals/permissions received for both NARCL and IDRCL from the government and regulators.
The boards of both NARCL and IDRCL, including MDs, are in place, the PTI report said.