Public borrowing won’t crowd out private investment: FM

Opportune time for investments by companies, she asserts

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged industry to step up investments and expand capacities, noting that worries about high public capital spending and borrowings crowding out private investments were misplaced.

“The emphasis on infra and public investments is done after a lot of stakeholder consultations… we have our own analysis that this is going to lead to crowding in of private investment,” she said, adding that this was an opportune time for greenfield and brownfield projects from corporates.

Emphasising that the Budget envisaged a two-track path, of building optimal infrastructure and encouraging sunrise sectors, for India’s growth in the Amrit Kaal, Ms. Sitharaman said that infrastructure development in the past had led to flawed outcomes.