There is a rule of law in India, business heads don’t disappear overnight: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman took cheeky potshots on Saturday at China (without naming the country, of course) while explaining why India is the global destination for businesses and why the optimism surrounding the country even amid a bleak global outlook, isn’t misplaced. On being asked by Ashok Malik, a former advisor to India’s ministry of external affairs and now country head of The Asia Group — a business advisory firm – on what makes India confident that it can stem the tide and be the hinge on which global growth hinges, the finance minister was quick to point out that India has “the right combination of things that help in economic growth. Youth, a burgeoning middle class that has purchasing power and provides a captive market, technology-driven public investment, public infrastructure in the digital world, and an understated fact: rule of law.” According to the minister, “We have an elected democracy. We have an established common law, courts. Systems exist and transparently at that. Here you can speak against the government and no head of a big corporate disappears for some time and reappears after,” she said at the Raisina Dialogue. Sitharaman’s reference, of course, was to the recent high-profile disappearance of legendary tech dealmaker Bao Fan, who has gone inexplicably ‘missing’ for almost three weeks. The Washington Post says all that is known is that Bao is “assisting the government of the People’s Republic of China with an investigation.” Refer   Bao’s vaporisation is eerily similar to the fate suffered by China’s flamboyant billionaire Jack Ma, founder of one of world’s largest tech giants, Alibaba, who disappeared in November 2020 after a speech seemingly critical of China’s finance architecture. Ant Group’s world’s biggest IPO was withdrawn at the last minute and Ma wasn’t seen until January next year. The unpredictability and randomness of an authoritarian political system cannot match the stability and predictability offered by a democracy such as India. There is “no picking you up and disappearing. Business heads are respected for what they do. States are also doing this. Various factors all put together makes India the appealing destination”, said the minister, adding, “[US treasury secretary Janet] Yellen has talked of “friend shoring”. This indicates India is the destination for businesses.” On what lends stability to the Indian economy despite the global turbulence, the minister said, “It’s because at every level, from prime minister to secretaries, all of us were in contact with people that gave us inputs. We have heard people saying what they want from us. Therefore, that reflected on resultant policies.” Sitharaman didn’t agree that differences in G20 over the war in Ukraine completely took away attention from the pain by developing nations, the Global South (GS). “Debt vulnerabilities got a lot of importance in the G20 finance ministers’ meeting. A communique couldn’t be arrived at, due to one issue, but 15 paragraphs had unanimity. On issues related to Global South, [for e.g., debt], it was one item on which there was complete unanimity. The G20 had no differences of opinion on low and middle income countries suffering from debt stress. Sri Lanka, for instance. We did take up that case.” The minister pointed out that “at the peak of the pandemic, during the Italian presidency, a high-level task force was looking at health and finance. Italy had kept up the momentum. So did Indonesia. The pandemic fund was created, and we have taken it up as a carry forward agenda. Classic example of an issue pertaining to GS gets continued support.” Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.