Want to see private sector unleash its animal spirits - Know why Nirmala Sitharaman said this

"I have been waiting for investment and expansion and I want to see the private sector show its animal spirits," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said during her address at the All India Management Association's 65th Foundation Day celebrations. She urged AIMA to nudge Indian business into investing and expanding capacity.

Sitaraman emphasized that the government was committed to multi-year stimulus spending to support sustained economic recovery.

FM said that the Union Budget 2021-22 has assured clarity and certainty on policy, taxation, infrastructure capex and privatization and now it is entirely up to the private sector to invest and expand capacity for long-term and sustainable economic growth, as per a report in IANS.

Assuring Indian business about the government's enormous fiscal deficit and huge borrowing programme, the Finance Minister said that the capex and infrastructure intensive budget will improve demand at both the industry and the consumer levels.

"This spending will ensure sustained growth over the next decade," she said.

Further, Sitharaman added that she has provided long-term certainty with short-term stimulus in her budget. 

The FM explained that the divestment policy announced in the budget was to move from incremental change to economic transformation. "I want a more meaningful and purposeful spending of the taxpayers' money," Sitaraman said, adding that the government did not want to use taxpayers' money to run institutions that it could not, and instead it wants to give public sector companies to those who can.

The divestment policy is not about closing down PSUs, the FM clarified. She said that Indian economy had great demand for steel, copper, coal etc and the PSUs needed to be run more efficiently and productively to meet that demand. "We are not selling PSUs for closure. We want them to be run better," she said.

She asserted that this year's budget was about charting a clear and certain path for the next decade. "Each word of this budget is full of meaning, so make the best use of it," she told the management leadership of the country.