After GST, govt working on next-generation customs reforms: FM Sitharaman
New Delhi, Nov 4, 2025
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's next set of customs reforms is in progress after GST, adding that the country is on track to meet its fiscal goals and become a top-three economy soon
After the landmark Goods and Service Tax reforms, which simplified the tax structure this year, the government is doing ‘immense work’ on next generation customs reforms, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.
Delivering the Valedictory Lecture at the Delhi School of Economics, Sitharaman highlighted that India stood tall and distinctly on its feet because of its economic strength and will soon become the third largest economy in the world.
“I am not saying we have become a developed country yet, because Viksit Bharat 2047 lies ahead of us. What is making us stand out is the rapid progress from being the 10th-largest economy in 2014 to the fifth, soon to become the fourth, and probably the third before long,” the FM said.
She added that the government is confident of meeting the 4.4 per cent fiscal deficit target in FY26 before moving its focus to the debt to GDP ratio from next financial year onwards.
“Unless your economy is sound, unless your macro economic fundamentals are sound and strong, you will never be able to stand up to speak,” Sitharaman said.
Referring to ‘international bullying’ that questions India’s strengths, the minister said that, “We should have that faith that we are achieving these goals ourselves and not get swayed by people who say, your economy is not up to it.”
She said that India was doing remarkably well in pushing the economy further and further, and was, therefore, able to get 25 million people out of multi-dimensional poverty.
Sitharaman urged young economists to make sure that the Indian perspectives were part of the global economic debates and called for economic theories emerging from India that not just suited India, but the Global South.
“We need to have information shared, so that the anxieties are not there, opportunities are seen,” the FM added.
She said that India was at an inflection point with newer factors coming into play and the important role of technology.
“Technology is playing such an immense role that all of us studying the economy should factor that in. It is important that as we move forward we engage with policy makers to provide data-driven inputs,” Sitharaman said.
The FM gave the example of how artificial intelligence made a revolution in identifying tax evasion.
Sitharaman stressed the need for research into the aging population, urbanisation and automation.
“With globalisation in retreat, effectively, the global supply chains undergoing realignment, sustaining higher growth average over the next two decades will no doubt be challenging. Unless younger minds come up with robust solutions to the challenges that we face, you’re not going to keep up with the developing agenda of India,” she said.
[The Business Standard]
