Indian rupee is holding out really well against the dollar, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Network18 Exclusive Townhall said that the Indian rupee is holding out really well. "The rate of fall of other currencies to the dollar has been sharply higher than the rupee. We are much better than many countries where the currency has fallen pathetically against the dollar," she said.

The Indian rupee fell to a record closing low of 81.62 against the dollar on Monday.

Sitharaman said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is not aiming at fixing the exchange rate. "RBI intervention is more to avoid fluctuation in currency. We need to ensure that the fluctuation is not severe," she said, adding that the fall in rupee, in today's global economic slowdown, may or may not help exports. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) takes business seriously when it comes to an election, said Sitharaman. She said there will come a time when the party will be able to capture the imagination of the people in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

“Development happens faster in some states which have had a history of that kind of access to education, policies driven towards industrialization etc. So that way Tamil Nadu has had the advantage because of having lot of exposure to English education," she said.

Sitharaman added that due to the topography of the state, there was a clear understanding of different governments over the decades that industrialisation is very important. "So since 1960s there has been a lot of emphasis on getting industries and investing for industries. So inspite of rural lives still intact in some parts of Tamil Nadu, it is majorly an urbanised state. It also has the advantage of having sea ports and people are also very entrepreneurial," she said, adding that if every state thinks that I am giving so much revenue then I should get so much then it is just not going to work out.

"I don't know if criticising GST model is only a political narrative," Sitharaman said, adding  that prior to the GST Council being formed, there was an empowered group of ministers (GoM) who actually worked into the details of it and came up with a framework.

"West Bengal’s former FM Asim Dasgupta was the chair of the empowered GoM, which worked on GST law. The GoM was always headed by a finance minister from an opposition party," she said.

It was for the first time after 1947, a federal institution that was constitutionally approved was formed, she said.

Sitharaman also said that ideas to improve GST are always welcome, but dumping it is not the way to go about it. She said institution building is a difficult and time-consuming process, while thrashing it is easy.

She said to the credit of the council, even during the pademic when borrowing at a big level had to be done, "to arrive at that decision it was a tremendous lot of sitting through, but it had all worked out. Institutions need patience.”

Talking about the language debate around considering Hindi as India's national language, Sitharaman said that it is one thing to believe in an ideology and to not want any other language, but another to deny an individual the right to learn what s/he wants.

"In Tamil Nadu scholarships are denied to students who learn Hindi and Sanskrit. Toppers are denied scholarships if one of the languages in their curriculum was Hindi. How is this justifiable," she asks?

Talking about the recent debate on freebies, Sitharaman said that welfare is equal to public good. "Hospitals, good government-run schools, public infrastructure is welfare.  You are welcome to give more welfare measures if you have the resources and the budget to do so," she said, adding that one can give free welfare measures, but must account for it in their budget.

Sitharaman said she would have to talk to oil marketing companies (OMCs) on what their recoveries are like. "We will need to see the losses of OMCs before deciding on cut in prices," she said.

She also said the government doesn't differentiate between sectors while extending assistance to different MSME companies.

She also said that whenever she meets regulators, she discusses cyber security measures. "Cyber security is a continuing challenge as you have to continuously update your system," she said.