Mumbai: In her first post-budget interview to any private network, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has highlighted what she called people’s unshakeable faith in prime minister Narendra Modi, emphasizing that this trust gave the government confidence to focus on empowerment instead of populism just before elections

In an exclusive interview with NDTV’s editor-in-chief Sanjay Pugalia, Nirmala Sitharaman said the unflinching public faith in prime minister Modi empowered the government to prioritize long-term fiscal responsibility without compromising on the allocation to welfare schemes.

“We are confident because, in the last 10 years, we have consistently launched schemes that benefit the people. And we don't just launch the schemes, we ensure that the benefits reach the last person in the queue,” the finance minister said, to a question on the confidence on display with a budget that skipped any populist measure, including tax changes.

“This is why we are confident that we have got the people's blessings twice and will get it again. The people's confidence in Prime Minister Modi is unshakeable and that gives us confidence.”

Sitharaman, in the last budget before national polls, also trimmed the subsidy spend to Rs 3.81 lakh crore for FY25 compared to Rs 4.13 crore for FY24. Resisting the temptation of spending on schemes for the poor in the pre-election budget, the government stayed firm on fiscal consolidation to attract investors.

"Our initiatives are not about populism or entitlement but of empowerment," Sitharaman said, "We don't believe in handholding people in a way which hampers their own decision-making. We will do welfare spending for healthcare and education.”

Fiscal discipline and subsidies, she explained, are not substitutes to one another.

To NDTV’s question on plans to raise capital expenditure, the finance minister said, “We will treat capex exhaustively in July (Union Budget).”

In 2014, when we came to power, there was enormous pressure on us. The impact of the financial mess, the policy paralysis, and scams had created a lack of confidence in the Indian economy. Foreign investors had become doubtful about India.

There was pressure on us to bring out a… pic.twitter.com/DVPfsOLLCt

— Nirmala Sitharaman Office (@nsitharamanoffc) February 2, 2024