New Delhi, Sep 22 — Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday called on Indian industry to look beyond expanding the size of businesses and focus on building enterprises that are innovative, resilient, well-governed, and capable of competing globally.
In her address at an event organised by the All India Management Association (AIMA), the Finance Minister emphasised that India's next phase of growth must be built on quality, for which corporates need to spend more on R&D, either in-house or through collaboration with academia.
This will help in driving innovation and improving existing products, she said, adding that higher R&D expenditure should also translate into more intellectual property being created in and from India.
"Our ambition must move from 'Made in India' to 'Imagined in India' products not only manufactured here, but conceived, designed, and technologically developed here, and then taken to markets across the world," the Finance Minister noted.
India's Gross Expenditure on R&D stands at mere 0.83 per cent of GDP, far below the OECD average of 2.7 per cent, China (2.6 per cent), and the US (3.5 per cent), reflecting a persistent shortfall in private-sector R&D depth, where the domestic private sector contributes just 36 per cent compared to over 70 per cent in leading advanced economies, she observed.
She further stated that the contribution of Indian management would be measured by the quality of enterprises and institutions being built today as the country moves toward Viksit Bharat by 2047.
The Finance Minister also underscored the need for building capability management education and designing short, practical courses for founders and early employees on hiring, delegation, financial discipline, customer management, compliance, and building systems.
Besides, there is a need for practical programmes for family businesses covering succession planning, governance, professionalisation, conflict management and delegation, she added.
Sitharaman also urged corporate leadership to go beyond designing products only for the formal urban elite and cater to a wider consumer base across the country.
"India's consumption base rests on working families across agriculture, rural construction, transport, and informal enterprise. If corporate India pursues premiumisation for the urban tier alone, growth will lose its structural durability," she said.
Besides, the Finance Minister urged corporates to focus on strengthening corporate governance mechanisms and not to seek legal recourse on every disagreement.
"Businesses must engage constructively with government and regulators. Legal recourse will always remain available, but every disagreement need not begin as litigation. There is considerable value in engaging early, placing evidence on the table, participating seriously in consultations and working towards solutions before differences become disputes," she noted.
Equally, businesses must provide predictability, transparency and a willingness to listen, as a mature economy should be capable of disagreement without immediately becoming adversarial, the Finance Minister added.