Exclusive/ Budget improving risk-taking for entrepreneurs, govt: Ashwini Vaishnaw

New Delhi: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said the interim budget announcement of rupees one lakh crore corpus for research in technology is a "game changer" as it would boost technology development projects and propel India as a product nation.

Speaking to Republic, the Minister said India has emerged from being among the ‘Fragile 5’ to one of the top 5 economies.

“Every analyst and economist in the world is very categorically saying that India is going to grow at six to eight per cent growth rate in the next five to seven years. That is the kind of trust the world has on us,” he said.

The net formal employment opportunity, Vaishnaw said, are in the order of 1.5 million per month. 

A whitepaper presentation suggested by the Finance Minister during the presentation is “necessary” to document the lessons from the past and present, for better data sets to take into the future.

The Minister, who also holds the portfolio for Railways, said introducing new trains and laying down new tracks has helped the country infuse a new life in the Railways. 

"Having better ventilation and other amenities as experienced from the Vande Bharat experience will be implemented in many other rail services," Vaishnaw said. 

Commenting on the country's food security programme, Vaishnaw said it has helped to create a platform for economic prosperity as well as the flourishing of business and trade ideas. 

"Once you have food security, there are more risk-taking capabilities entrepreneurs and government can experiment with," said Vaishnaw.

Specific to the announcement for the corpus, which was announced with a 50-year interest-free loan for research in sunrise sectors, the Minister said they will be spelt out over the coming days.

Sunrise sectors are those which have not grown to their optimum potential.

The Minister said the focus will be on selecting certain projects initially, after which they will move to a proposal-based system through which products and technologies can be selected with clearly-defined goalposts and deliverables.