India Finance Minister Sitharaman Discharged From Hospital

Ruchi Bhatia
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was discharged from a hospital in New Delhi on Thursday, government officials said.

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A key ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the 63-year-old minister was in a private ward at the premier state-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences since Dec. 26 with symptoms of viral fever, they added. Official details were scant on her condition.

Sitharaman’s hospital visit came weeks before the presentation of the federal budget on Feb. 1. This would be the final budget before national elections in the summer of 2024 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to seek a third term in power.

Modi’s government is expected to use the upcoming budget to revive the Indian economy amid concerns of a global slowdown and elevated inflation. The $3.2 trillion economy grew 6.3% from a year ago in the July to September period, more than halving from the 13.5% expansion in the previous three months.

While generating new jobs and reducing poverty is a priority for Modi ahead of the elections, his government faces an uphill task in maintaining fiscal prudence - a key metric watched by investors and rating companies.

India has budgeted a deficit of 6.4% of GDP in the current fiscal year ending March 2023, significantly lower than 9.2% gap notched during the first year of the pandemic. The government aims to shrink the shortfall to below 4.5% of GDP by 2025-26.

Sitharaman made the news when she was unexpectedly appointed by Modi in 2019, becoming the first female finance minister in five decades since Indira Gandhi. She was seen as an unknown entity at the time with critics saying she could just be a figurehead with Modi calling the shots on policy.

Her supporters have said that her experience as former defense minister and national spokesperson for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have put her in good stead to support social welfare programs and also exercise fiscal prudence.

As finance chief, Sitharaman is credited with keeping the budget transparent as many of the off-budget items were brought onto the books. She has been able to successfully privatize loss-making national carrier Air India and put nearly a dozen other public sector companies on the block.

Sitharaman is also seen to have a good relationship with the central bank, despite the monetary authority missing its price stability mandate.

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