Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday that the government's enabling policies and proactive measures, such as business tax cuts and economic digitization, helped the country deal with the unusual scenario created by the pandemic.

The Finance Minister said India, with its strong fundamentals, has occasionally encountered obstacles and emerged from them. The FM was addressing at the 'India's Economic Journey@75' event, which is being jointly held by the Department of Economic Affairs and Sebi as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav iconic week celebration.

Various initiatives made by the government since 2014 have helped keep the economy and people afloat in difficult times, and the government's targeted approach during the epidemic aided civilians, she said.

"Even after pulling the economy out of under-growth (post-2014), you still had challenges," Sitharaman said. "In a way, the three major steps that were taken:-  lowering the corporate tax, formalizing/digitalizing the economy, IBC code, GST, the heavy-lifting that help prepared us for a situation that nobody could imagine." 

Despite COVID, she added, Indian retail investors have discovered online gateways to access the stock market in the last two years, and Sebi has a role to play in investor education. The finance minister also stressed that the government takes a targeted approach to deliver aid and promptly incorporates feedback from the ground.

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