PM Modi stresses fundamental change in the mindset for Viksit Bharat

The meeting was chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran, and NITI Aayog officials

Ahead of the presentation of the Budget for the next financial year (FY26), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacted with a group of economists on the theme “Maintaining India’s growth momentum at a time of global uncertainty”.

 

Modi emphasised that Viksit Bharat can be achieved through a fundamental change in mindset, which is focused towards making India developed by 2047, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement. The meeting, chaired by Modi, was attended by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Chief Economic Adviser  V Anantha Nageswaran, and NITI Aayog officials.

 

“Participants shared their views on several significant issues, including navigating challenges posed by global economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions, strategies to enhance employment, particularly among the youth, and create sustainable job opportunities across sectors, strategies to align education and training programmes with the evolving needs of the job market,” the PMO statement said. 

 

According to the PMO statement said participants shared their views on enhancing agricultural productivity and creating sustainable rural employment opportunities, attracting private investment and mobilising public funds for infrastructure projects to boost economic growth and create jobs, promoting financial inclusion, boosting exports, and attracting foreign investment.

 

A participant, requesting anonymity, said there was a lot of discussion on skilling and removing the stigma around vocational education. “There was also discussion around agriculture and allied sector, and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), and what should be our stand on integrating with global value chains and free trade agreements. Some participants suggested a (PLI) scheme for MSMEs,” the participant said.

 

“There were around 20 people and each one was given five minutes to speak. The Prime Minister spoke for around 15 minutes at the end,” another participant said.

 

The meeting was attended by some prominent economists, including Surjit S Bhalla, Ashok Gulati, Sudipto Mundle, Dharmakirti Joshi, Janmejaya Sinha, Madan Sabnavis, Amita Batra, Ridham Desai, Chetan Ghate, Bharat Ramaswami, Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Siddhartha Sanyal, Laveesh Bhandari, Rajani Sinha, Keshab Das, Pritam Banerjee, Rahul Bajoria, Nikhil Gupta, and Shashwat Alok.

 

In a post on LinkedIn, Pritam Banerjee, head, Centre for WTO Studies, said: “Our mandate was to discuss actionable policies to help sustain India’s growth momentum in an increasingly uncertain geopolitical and economic environment.”