New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that India will soon become the world’s third-largest economy as the country is making rapid progress and stands tall today because of its economic strength. Delivering the diamond jubilee valedictory lecture at the Delhi School of Economics, Sitharaman said, “We are at a time when India is moving fast on so many different parameters, largely they are all economic. Of course, India and its population, India and its location have strategic significance, but India stands together today and stands tall and stands distinctly on its feet, because of the economic strength of India.”

“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 5th, soon to become the 4th, and probably the 3rd before long,” the Finance Minister said. She highlighted that as many as 25 million people have been lifted out of multidimensional poverty, emphasising the need to strengthen India-centric research and policy engagement and develop models suited to emerging economies.

The Finance Minister also said significant efforts are underway to reform customs regulations. Highlighting the achievements in the banking sector, she underlined the significant improvement in the balance sheets of public sector banks in marked contrast to the "twin balance sheet problem" that had been inherited from the erstwhile UPA government. Sitharaman expressed confidence that the government would meet the ambitious fiscal deficit target of 4.4 per cent for the current financial year (2025-26).

India's fiscal deficit for the first six months of the current financial year (April-September) stood at Rs 5.73 lakh crore, which constitutes 36.5 per cent of the annual estimate in the budget, a government data released on Friday showed. The figures show that the fiscal deficit is well under control, which paves the way for stable growth of the economy.