Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman today assumed charge as Minister of State (Independent Charge) Commerce and Industry, here.

Speaking to media persons after taking charge, Smt. Sitharaman said that “there’s lots of things happening in this Department which should be taken forward with greater enthusiasm given the impetus with which the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi would like the Department to function.” She added that she feels “very humbled” to have been given the responsibility. She emphasized that she “will give best of my time” to improve economic and commercial ties with India’s trading partners.

Smt. Sitharaman said that she will work to “improve on Indian exports, and ensure that job opportunities emerge because that’s a very important plank on which we have contested the recent elections. The economic situation in this country demands that more jobs be provided for the young, talented, well-educated and even the semi-skilled and unskilled people of India.”

On the issue of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), she said that there will not be a “blanket approach” for every sector, and that each and every sector would be looked in a “very, very calibrated fashion”. On FDI in multi-brand retail, she said that is “not best opened up now because the way in which medium and small sized traders or small farmers have not been adequately empowered… that immediately if you open up the floodgates of FDI in multi-brand retail, it may affect them.”

Foreign Direct Investment policy to be sectorally calibrated, cautioning against opening multi brand retail to protect small traders. The minister prioritises export promotion and job creation and announces a cautious, sector by sector approach to Foreign Direct Investment, opposing immediate opening of multi brand retail FDI on the ground that inadequate empowerment of medium and small traders and small farmers could lead to adverse effects.