Make India part of supply chain: FM to global businesses

ASKING BUSINESSES TO look at diversifying their supply chains beyond China, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said Covid-induced disruptions in the global supply chain indeed justified such a strategy. India would be the best bet for global firms in this endeavour, given its young population and skill sets.

She also stressed the need for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to be more open about issues, while reiterating that India would continue to use the bilateral free trade agreements (FTAS) route to bolster its trade.

"We need value In chains come to India and produce produce in Ir India, not just for India, but to export from India. We have come up with a production-linked incentive schemes, in 13 areas, which are priority, sunrise sectors, where India didn't produce at all earlier," Sitharaman said at the Peterson Institute for International Economics Washington DC on the sidelines of the World Bank-IMF spring meetings.

Besides meeting domestic demand, India hopes to have production of many of these large bulk manufactured goods and export them.