Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman underscored the importance of building “Brand Bharat” as a hub of innovative solutions and opportunity, positioning Indian enterprises and start-ups to scale globally.
Speaking at an event organised by the India Foundation, she said, “Our gig economy start-ups, quick commerce, for instance, are truly one-of-a-kind innovation only India has. That’s not to say that brick-and-mortar retail is not doing fine. I recognise they are being challenged by quick commerce, and we need to handhold and support them, but use this to brand India as a destination of innovative solutions to modern urban leagues.”
This will serve as an incentive or call to scale up internationally, catapulting Indian enterprises with a strong Bharati identity to become some of the biggest players in the international tech business space, she added.
Sitharaman also called for leveraging this innovation-driven identity to propel Indian businesses onto the global stage, blending modern ingenuity with a strong Bharati ethos.
The Finance Minister emphasised that Indian technology companies are currently capturing the globe on how to use technology-driven services. “Can we build a brand of Bharat as the knowledge hub of the world using technology?” she said.
Alongside, India is leading in biosciences and the pharma sector. She calls for the concept of a Bharat Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), similar to the US FDA, that can give global standards of benchmarks. “If you reach that benchmark, your pharmaceutical products will be good enough or even unsurpassed,” Sitharaman added.
Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, who also addressed the gathering, noted that while India is on its way to becoming the third largest economy, the Indian rupee has held its position as one of the least volatile among major currencies.
“Our foreign reserves today stand at about $675 billion, making it the fifth largest in the world. To encourage private sector participation in deep tech and sunrise domains, the Indian government has announced a fund of ₹1 lakh crore, to provide long-term financing to promote innovation,” he continued.
