Govt to look at policy, fiscal support in sunrise sectors, AI, space going ahead: FM

As economic fundamentals of India are strong, the government will abide by the PSE policy where PSUs will remain in strategic sectors

The Union government will look at providing fiscal and policy support to sunrise sectors, Artificial Intelligence (AI), semiconductors, deep sea and space which are going to be the priority areas going ahead, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on March 1.

“We will be emphasising on some sectors which will be immensely supported going ahead. Education and health as always will always receive support from the government,” she said.

Sitharaman was speaking at the Pandit Hriday Nath Kunzru Memorial Lecture in Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Laying down the focus areas for the government going ahead, the minister said that as the economic fundamentals of India are strong, the government will abide by the PSE policy where PSUs will remain in strategic sectors.

PSUs like BSNL will be needed to provide communication in border areas. They will not lose their relevance, she said.

According to the policy, all public sector enterprises will be privatised, except the four strategic sectors of atomic energy, space and defence, transport and telecommunications, power, petroleum, coal and other minerals, and banking, insurance and financial services.

Russian oil imports

Stating how India steered clear during global challenges, Sitharaman said that keeping the interests of the country in mind, the government went ahead to get discounted oil from Russia despite chances of facing sanctions.

Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan the US and the 27-nation European Union in December 2022 agreed to set an upper limit of $60 a barrel for seaborne Russian crude oil. This was the outcome of Moscow's conflict in Ukraine, which aimed to put an economic squeeze on Russia.

“Efficiencies in cross border payment for oil from Russia were brought in. India evolved ways and means to keep buying Russian oil without confrontation through diplomatic channels,” she said.

India has been purchasing greater amounts of crude from Russia to take advantage of deeper discounts. New Delhi's imports from Russia, the former’s second-largest import source nation, surged 96.26 percent in April-July 2023 to $20.45 billion primarily due to oil purchases. India imports around 85 percent of its energy requirements

The finance minister said that compared to many currencies, rupee has been far more stable against the dollar. It is because of that reason that many countries who have dollar shortages are thus coming forward for rupee trade with India, she added.