"There can't be a temptation now to experiment with a coalition govt. It's a critical time for India

At the Adda held in Bengaluru on February 28, Union Finance Minister set of reforms, probe agencies going Nirmala Sitharaman spoke on the next after black money and the Lok Sabha elections

On what worries her There may be issues domestically but what worries me is how things would change externally. Is it the war, not one, two? Is it the uncertainty, Red Sea? Or is it just going to end? Or is it going to fester? The crude oil price today, tomorrow, natural gas price today, tomorrow, fertiliser price today, tomorrow. Those are the worries.

On navigating the Russia and Ukraine conflict I think the underlying point there is (that we have navigated this) without compromising on national interest and without in any way hurting the Indian economy.

If sound arguments have been placed with each of them, whether it's the Western Bloc nations, those expressions of Bloc no longer hold good after the Cold War, but still I'm saying whether it is developing countries, the Global South or the developed countries, or specifically whether it is the US, Russia or Japan. I think (it's) the personal kind of relationship...

One may say in diplomacy, there's no personal relationship yet chemistry works, right? If the leadership has such chemistry with their counterparts, you're able to reason out in favour of your country. And that's where I think, truly, our Prime Minister has strenuously built up relationships with each of the leaders that at any point he is able to seek time, take the phone, talk to them, explain why he wants a certain thing done in our country's interest and certainly not to hurt anybody else's interest.

When that argument gets put effectively and that argument comes from an elected leader with mass support, who is building a stable economy with predictable policies, it shows results.

On the next set of reforms on agenda I think you can rest assured about the way in which Prime Minister Modi has handled the economy - as a Chief Minister in Gujarat and as a Prime Minister now for 10 full years.