G20 Summit: ‘We should address the question of debt distress,’ says Nirmala Sitharaman

As India is holding its presidency for the G20 Summit, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India given the consideration of things and developments across the world, addressing the question of debt distress is a must.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Economic Times, Nirmala Sitharaman talked about the expected deliverables in the finance track. Sitharaman said, “Given the consideration of things and the developments across the world, we thought we should address this question of debt distress. The World Bank and the IMF have their own ways of extending help to such states, but they consumed a lot of time in giving relief. So, all this was in our mind when we said we have to take up the issue of debt.”

Also Read: G20 presidency: A driving force against global debt vulnerability

The Finance minister further noted that the 20th-century institutions were really not living up to the 21st-century challenges, hence reforms of MDBs (multilateral development banks). Third is about the global necessity for a globally understood regulatory framework for cryptocurrency or crypto assets. The fourth one was digital public infrastructure.”

Earlier, speaking at the B20 Summit on August 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that an integrated approach to deal with issues related to cryptocurrencies is needed.

PM Modi asked business leaders to brainstorm on issues like cryptocurrency and Artificial Intelligence. He said a global framework is required for cryptocurrency. Besides, the PM said that technology disruption is happening at a rapid speed and there is a need to focus on “ethical AI".

Also Read: B20 Summit 2023: PM Modi pushes for global framework for cryptocurrency says, ‘Need integrated approach to deal…’

Furthermore, Sitharaman discussed the Hindenburg report and its possible consequences. She explained that it's a question of short sellers who take a position, bring down the valuation and then again send it up and then make a killing. 

She stressed, "Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India), with what it does, is able to see the grain from the chaff. Regulatory tools, if used properly, coming out of this can lead to better corporate governance. There is no harm if India can also benefit from better corporate governance.”

Also Read: Adani-Hindenburg Row: Supreme Court postpones hearing; SEBI's status report to be addressed

It is to be further noted that the Supreme Court on Tuesday rescheduled the hearing for the Adani-Hindenburg case involving the status report provided by the Sebi, the capital markets regulatory body. 

The media reports noted that Sebi has expressed that due to a significant number of these entities being located in offshore tax havens, determining the financial stakes of shareholders among the 12 Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) presents a challenging aspect of the investigation.

As reported by PTI, Sebi informed the apex court that it is currently awaiting data from five offshore tax havens to identify the true beneficiaries behind foreign investors engaged with the conglomerate.

Also Read: Centre, states collect ₹1.65 trillion in GST revenue in July

The Finance Minister informed that the GST revenues have been stabilised at a high level and noted that even states that wouldn't have had more than a 3-4% annual increase in collections are benefiting from 7-8% post the compensation cess being removed. 

Meanwhile, official data shows that the Central and state governments collected ₹1.65 trillion in Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in July, an improvement of 11% from the year-ago period. This is the fifth time that GST revenue collection has remained above the ₹1.6 trillion mark, said a statement from the finance ministry. The government's estimate for monthly average collection this fiscal is ₹1.65 trillion.

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Responding to a question about the significant role of the economy in influencing people's voting decisions, Sitharaman commented on this aspect in the context of the upcoming general elections in 2024. The Finance Minister told ET, “The message of the government undertaking promises and fulfilling them across the board with no discrimination in each of the schemes is well received by people.”

(With inputs from agencies)