India domestic demand big magnet for global supplies, FM says

Domestic demand in India will be a big magnet for attracting global supplies when US tariffs begin to influence global trade, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

The strength of Indian domestic demand would attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and international manufacturing to supply the domestic market and export from India, Sitharaman said.

“We think India and a few emerging markets will be the engines of growth. The global depressed growth, if it has to pick up, will have to be because of these engines,” Sitharaman said during an interaction on the ‘Opportunities and Challenges for India’s Quest to Become a Developed Economy by 2047’ at the High Commission of India in London.

Sitharaman is on her first UK visit in her current tenure, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

Sitharaman expressed confidence in the Indian economy and said it can capitalize on domestic efficiencies and competitiveness despite global headwinds, adding: “The world has seen depressed growth for over several years; earlier, it was low interest for long, and now it’s going to be low growth for long, and that’s not happy news for anybody.”

She said India has maintained its fastest-growing economy tag continuously for five years, but the momentum may moderate a bit

“India will keep that growth… as our growth gets calibrated because of the domestic consumption, he added.” Domestic consumption levels are supported by global-standard goods, and she added that this is the reason why, since the 1990s, India has received many opportunities.