Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 22: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday urged Indian industry to move beyond simply expanding businesses and focus on building innovative, resilient and well-governed enterprises capable of competing in global markets.

Addressing an event organised by the All India Management Association (AIMA), Sitharaman said the next phase of India’s economic growth must be driven by quality, with companies increasing spending on research and development, either independently or through partnerships with academic institutions.

Higher investment in R&D would help drive innovation, improve existing products and create more intellectual property in India, she said.

“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 said.

Sitharaman noted that India’s gross expenditure on R&D stood at 0.83 per cent of GDP, significantly below the OECD average of 2.7 per cent, China’s 2.6 per cent and the US’ 3.5 per cent.

She said the figures reflected a persistent gap in private-sector R&D investment, with domestic private companies accounting for only 36 per cent of total R&D expenditure, compared with more than 70 per cent in leading advanced economies.

The Finance Minister said the contribution of Indian management would ultimately be measured by the quality of enterprises and institutions being built as the country moves towards the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.

She also stressed the need to strengthen management capabilities and develop short, practical courses for founders and early-stage employees covering areas such as recruitment, delegation, financial discipline, customer management, compliance and system-building.

Family-run businesses, she said, also require practical programmes focused on succession planning, governance, professionalisation, conflict management and delegation.

Sitharaman further urged corporate leaders to look beyond designing products exclusively for the formal urban elite and cater to a broader 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.

The Finance Minister also called for stronger corporate governance and urged businesses not to approach the courts over every disagreement with the government or regulators.

“Businesses must engage constructively with government and regulators. Legal recourse will always remain available, but every disagreement need not begin as litigation,” she said.

She emphasised the importance of early engagement, presenting evidence, participating meaningfully in consultations and seeking solutions before differences develop into disputes.

Businesses, too, must provide predictability and transparency and remain willing to listen, Sitharaman said, adding that a mature economy should be able to accommodate disagreements without immediately turning them into adversarial disputes.