India’s growth story over next two decades hinges on bold reforms, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

India's Finance Minister outlines bold reforms, enhanced capabilities, and strategic collaborations to drive sustained growth over two decades.

India's quest for sustained growth over the next two decades hinges on a new paradigm, driven by bold reforms, enhanced domestic capabilities, and strategic institutional collaborations suited for the evolving global landscape, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday (April 21, 2025).

The last two Union Budgets have laid the groundwork for this transformation, with a clear multi-sectoral policy agenda, she said, while speaking at Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California.

In the last decade, she said the government has undertaken structural reforms, rationalising over 20,000 compliances, decriminalising business laws and digitising public services to reduce friction.

She further said a significant thrust on infrastructure development has also created a strong foundation for manufacturing-led growth by bolstering investor confidence over the last 10 years.

This has been enabled by a more than four-fold increase in the union government's capital expenditure between 2017-18 and the 2025-26 Budget, she said.

"Our experience with implementing the Business Reform Action Plan by different state governments has demonstrated that deregulation is a powerful catalyst for industrial growth," she said.

Going forward, the Finance Minister said, sustaining India's growth momentum calls for a fresh approach of bold reforms, adaptive strategies in line with changing global landscape.