Nirmala Sitharaman Calls Out IBM For Being Outside the Realm of AatmaNirbhar Bharat

Nirmala Sitharaman, finance minister of India, was part of a panel at the B20 Summit where she was put up with a question from Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM about advising what should companies do to establish a strong presence in India. 

“What encouragement or advice would you give those of us who are from multinational companies and wish to have a strong presence in India and from India to serve the world?” asked Krishna. Emphasising that he has been happy with the AatmaNirbhar mission of the government, but talks about free trade opens up many questions.

To this Sitharaman replied, “Comments about free trade should actually encourage you to be in India.” She explains how so much effort has been put in by the commerce minister and his team. 

On the question of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), she said, “I would not be wrong in saying an FTA is very close for a final call with the UK, and I think agreements with Canada are also progressing, and I expect them to come to a conclusion sooner rather than later.” She also said that agreements have already been signed with Australia and UAE. 

Interestingly, Sitharaman said that for FTA, you have to be present in India, speaking with Krishna. “You have a government that brought stability in policy. We have a government that shows we are not thirsting for more revenue with some tax rates increased here and there.”

She adds that everyone knows that AatmaNirbhar is already in progress, and “IBM is probably outside of that realm,” and how AatmaNirbhar is not going against globalisation. 

Focusing on the growing Indian economy, Sitharaman adds that the country’s economy speaks for itself and investors look for such destinations.

At the B20 Summit, Krishna said that he is excited about AI potential in driving the country’s economy as it can take over cognitive tasks and perform them. AI will help “generate more per capita GDP”, he also added. 

In an interview with Bloomberg in May, Krishna had also said that AI has the potential to cut 30% of the jobs.