‘Happy That PM Was Gujarati’: Jaishankar Recalls How India Kept Fiscal Discipline During Covid Pandemic

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar praised on Monday how the Narendra Modi government maintained India’s fiscal discipline during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, despite pressure from global economic experts, who advocated a spending spree during that period.

Speaking at the South Gujarat Chamber of Commerce in Surat, Jaishankar said, “A G20 meeting was called in 2020 when the world learned about the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic. I remember attending a virtual meeting in January 2020, during which I sat beside PM Modi. During that meeting, India was recognised as a country of concern, as it was assumed that medical infrastructure and primary health facilities were not up to the task.”

Jaishankar said India emerged strongly out of the Covid phase at that time when the world faced numerous economic hardships. “…In the end, we (India) emerged as providers of vaccines, paracetamols, masks, and PPE kits. This strong response changed the world’s perception of India,” the minister said in an address in Hindi.

During his speech, Jaishankar pointed out how many countries increased expenditure to stimulate their economies, which led to inflation, and an increase in fiscal deficits. “If you look at our model, several people gave us ‘expert advice’ to handle the covid phase. They told us: ‘Open the floodgates of the treasury. Let the money rain’. …At that time, I was happy that our PM was Gujarati.”

Underling the “self-confidence” that the country displaced during the covid period, the external affairs minister said that India was among the very few nations that emerged from Covid-19 with a strong fiscal position because the government managed the situation well.

“With the help of JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, and Mobile), we spent money where it mattered in targeted welfare delivery,” he said. “The world is still baffled today, considering how every month we provide ration to 80 crore people—that is more than both the US and Europe combined. …Today, we are the world’s fastest-growing economy, and that’s why global perception of India has changed,” he added.