Indian regulators have done world-class job made system more transparent: Nirmala Sitharaman

09 Oct 2024 Evaluate

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has commended Indian financial sector regulators for doing a ‘world-class job’ and bringing greater transparency into the system. Underlining that she is not against questioning or critiquing regulators, Sitharaman said there is a need to be ‘extremely conscious’ about contributions made by them as well.

About competitive populism through freebie schemes, Sitharaman said there is a need to look at a state's financial ability to bear the burden of announcements for the welfare of the poor. She said that in some cases committed expenditure is going up to 80 per cent, whereas the development needs are being overlooked. She said that spending by the state governments on political promises should be based on the fiscal capacity of the concerned state. Making it clear that she was not against welfare measures, Sitharaman said ‘We cannot deny help to the poor for moving out of poverty’.

The minister thanked the digital investment platforms for doing a ‘great service’ for the country, which has helped ensure that middle-class Indians can take the risk by entering markets rather than comfortably sit by deploying the resources in low paying accounts. She also gave out a slew of data supporting the argument, including the surge in the number of demat accounts to 17.1 crore as of September 2024 from 2.31 crore in 2014. Sitharaman also exhorted banks to ensure that they do not practice either overlending, which can lead to asset quality stress or underlending, which can impact their profitability, underlining that the health of the banks actually determines the health of the economy and the financial health of households.


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