സാമ്പത്തിക പ്രതിരോധശേഷി കെട്ടിപ്പടുക്കുന്നത് തുടർച്ചയായ പ്രക്രിയയെന്ന് കേന്ദ്ര ധനമന്ത്രി നിർമ്മല സീതാരാമൻ

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on October 3 said uncertainty has become a standing condition of the global economy and policy must be designed around it, stressing the need for India to continuously build resilience.

“We need to keep building resilience as we go along; it is not a one-time exercise,” she said at the Kautilya Economic Conclave 2026.

The coming years call for greater preparation, and India approaches them from a position of strength, Sitharaman said. She highlighted a few priority areas, including ensuring strategic resource security, maintaining global openness and developing skills.

“Supply chains optimised for cost alone carry hidden fragility. To replace fragile single-source dependencies with domestic operational depth, we have launched the National Critical Mineral Mission, the Rare Earth Corridors, and the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0, and we are focusing on developing the use of Small modular reactors (SMRs),” the finance minister said.

Sitharaman also noted that the flexible inflation-targeting framework, introduced in 2016, anchors expectations.

“Continuous monitoring of prices, arrivals, stocks and crop conditions, together with buffers financed through the Price Stabilisation Fund, supports timely intervention.”

Minimum support price (MSP) increases, PM-KISAN and calibrated trade measures recognise the interests of producers alongside those of consumers, balancing farmers’ livelihoods with household purchasing power, she said.

“The Hormuz disruption tested the systems supporting essential energy supplies. The requirements of Household LPG and piped gas were adequately met due to various steps.”

For India, resilience means building on the structural foundations laid over the past decade to accelerate and broaden growth, Sitharaman said.

“The test of the coming years will again be partly invisible: the shocks India absorbs without disruption to households and enterprises. That record is as much a measure of sound economic management as any growth figure.”