The government is making provisions to fund innovative defence production in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat goals and make up for alleged neglect in the last three decades, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.
"Funding for science and technological research was scattered earlier," she told NDTV Profit's Sanjay Pugalia in an exclusive interview—her first for a private news network after the interim budget.
The minister said the current allocations for defence would seem less as it is making up for the 30 years of alleged neglect before the Modi government took over in 2014.
Sitharaman announced in her interim budget speech on Thursday that a Rs 1 lakh crore corpus will be established with a 50-year interest-free loan for long-term financing research and innovation in sunrise domains, which also includes deep defence technology.
The National Research Foundation, a Rs 50,000-crore initiative announced two years ago, will help in funding innovation and getting private sector participation, she said.
Fiscal Discipline Maintained
Fiscal discipline and subsidy programmes are not substitutes for one another and the government will continue spending on key welfare initiatives while keeping its books in order, Sitharaman said.
"The government maintained (fiscal) discipline while giving benefits to the people in the last 10 years. This was a direction-setting budget," she said.
The minister said the Finance Ministry chose not to do a consultation ahead of the interim budget, as suggested by PM Narendra Modi.
The minister said the Finance Ministry chose not to do a consultation ahead of the interim budget, as suggested PM Narendra Modi.
The minister said the Finance Ministry chose not to do a consultation ahead of the interim budget, as suggested PM Narendra Modi.
Capex Growth On High Base
The Finance Minister said there has been no cut in capital expenditure allocation and the percentage growth for FY25 is on a higher base of Rs 10 lakh crore.
The budget has proposed a capex target of Rs 11.17 crore for the next fiscal.
"The current economic growth is sustained, structural... Need to pay attention to the absorption capacity of capex, which will steadily kick in," she said.
Sitharaman said the central government has encouraged states to spend on capex through interest-free loans to states for 50 years and claimed the private sector is also investing in sectors allied to infrastructure.
Nirmala Sitharaman said the Central government has encouraged states to spend on capex through interest free loans to states for 50 years.
Nirmala Sitharaman said the Central government has encouraged states to spend on capex through interest free loans to states for 50 years.
Improving PSE Valuations
Sitharaman said the government needed to fill gaps in the internal systems of the state-owned life insurer, Life Insurance Corp., before its initial public offering.
The government is also focusing on the valuation of public sector companies. "We are focusing on improving all PSEs, thereby improving their valuations."
Public undertakings since 1991 are trying to bring in internal professionalism, but there was not much market orientation, she said.
Watch the full conversation here:
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