Fiscal prudence, reforms and infrastructure investment strengthened India’s economy: Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said that India’s economic strength and resilience have been built over the past decade through a combination of fiscal prudence, infrastructure investment, banking reforms, improved delivery mechanisms and consistent reforms.
 
 
Addressing the 5th Kautilya economic conclave in New Delhi, the Finance Minister said that the government has advanced the national frameworks through GST, insolvency and bankruptcy code and the four labour codes. She said that India had navigated the shocks of the past four years with its fundamentals intact, citing 7.8 percent real GDP growth in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026-27.
 
 
The Finance Minister said that the IMF projects India’s general government debt to decline from 83.4 percent of GDP in 2026 to 77.7 percent in 2031 against a rising global trend.
 
 
 
On infrastructure development, Ms Sitharaman said, capital expenditure for this fiscal had been budgeted at 12.22 lakh crore rupees. She added that the national highway network had expanded by about 61 per cent and the number of operational airports had more than doubled since 2014.
 
 
She also highlighted that more than 52 crore collateral-free loans have been sanctioned under PM MUDRA Yojana. Highlighting the PM Awas Yojana, PM Ujjwala Yojana, Ayushman Bharat and PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, Ms Sitaharaman said that these initiatives have strengthened citizens’ capacity to participate in growth and build capacities to fight the challenges.