Nirmala Sitharaman takes charge as Finance Minister, hours after her portfolio was announced today. She is India’s first woman finance minister. She takes charge as Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs.
Narendra Modi picked Nirmala Sitharaman as the person to steer India’s next course of reforms. The former defence minister inherits a fractured economy and is probably staring at a slowdown which could be the worst in five years.
The 59-year-old former JNU student, Nirmala Sitharaman rose in the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and became the first full-time woman defence minister of India in Modi govt’s first tenure. Before that she handled the Minister of State portfolio in the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Minister of State (Independent charge) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. She also served as Member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament, since 2016
Sitharaman will have her hands full, taking off from where Arun Jaitley left. Here’s what she will be tackling in her tenure, key challenges:
Get the Economy flowing again
Estimated 7% growth in the GDP again.
Address Financial sector Troubles
Another round of capital
infusion to put NPA (Non Performing Assets) issues behind.
Special window for NBFCs to tide over liquidity
crisis.
Create Jobs:
Jobs is a major concern for India as unemployment rate has increased but it also should be considered that population has also struck higher. India now requires 8.1 million jobs every year in India according to the World Bank.
Get private investments flowing
Gross Fixed Capital Formation, as % of GDP.
FY15 – 30.1
FY16 – 28.7
FY17 – 28.2
FY18 – 28.6
FY19 – 28.9
Make exports stronger
India is vulnerable to crude price shocks. This spills over because of currency weakness and higher inflation.
Share of Exports in the year 2014 – 25.4%
Share of Exports in year 2019
– 19.7