India's economic growth to be supported by fiscal spending: FM

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that the country’s growth will be driven by fiscal spending.

Participating virtually in the second BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under the China chairmanship, Sitharaman said BRICS should continue to serve as a platform to engage in dialogues and facilitate exchange of experiences, concerns and ideas for rebuilding a sustainable and inclusive growth trajectory.

Speaking on India’s growth outlook, she said the economic growth will continue to be supported by fiscal spending along with an investment push, imparting momentum to the economy based on the idea of growth at macro level complemented by all-inclusive welfare at micro level.

The government has proposed to significantly step up the public investment by raising capital expenditure by 35.4 per cent to Rs 7.5 lakh crore or 2.9 per cent of the GDP in the current financial year.

The BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors also discussed other legacy BRICS finance issues such as infrastructure investment, New Development Bank (NDB), BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) etc.