Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said India’s journey to become a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 is not merely an aspiration but a shared national mission. She said the Vikshit Bharat mission is powered by a vision for inclusive, sustainable, and innovation-led growth.
During her address at Stanford University in the US today, the Finance Minister said that India has risen from the world’s tenth-largest economy to the fifth-largest. She mentioned that it is a clear sign of India’s growing strength and global relevance.
The Union Minister said that some of the works done in India stand out, and one such example is that of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and its success. As the Indian government launches several measures to enhance women’s safety, health and financial independence, the Finance Minister said that India is changing, and so are Indian women. She said maternity leaves for working women have been increased to six months on the insistence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
She further stated that property registration in the name of women has tax concessions, and under the Poshan Scheme, the nutritional needs of pregnant women and lactating mothers are being met.
Earlier, the minister met Thomas Kurian, Chief Executive Officer of Google Cloud and his team in San Francisco. They discussed the transformative evolution of India’s digital infrastructure under the Digital India initiative in recent years, positioning the country as a global leader in digital adoption. Kurian acknowledged and appreciated India’s AI Mission, and the trajectory India is taking under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and called for connecting India to the world via land and sea cables. He said that Google Cloud aims to operate entirely on carbon-free energy at its data centres and offices worldwide by 2030 and spoke about the upcoming investment strategy that the group is working on for India. The Finance Minister encouraged them to explore local linkages in India for territorial collaboration and build tech for India and the world as part of the ‘Make In India’ initiative.
