India Needs Soft-Touch Regulatory System: Sitharaman

India needs to have a soft-touch regulatory system as it cannot have regulations that stifle businesses, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.

Soft-touch regulations will allow people to do their businesses without suspicion and a trust-based system is an important contribution, she said at Lakshmipat Singhania — IIM Lucknow's 14th edition of National Leadership Awards in New Delhi.

"We cannot have regulations which stifle businesses and I fully agree that every year, possibly with a magic wand, we should remove regulatory difficulties," Sitharaman said.

"All of us are working on it. I would happily receive any number of suggestions for removing such hurdles to businesses and ease of living and take India forward in that direction," she said.

In a post on X earlier on Friday, the Department of Financial Services openly countered the Reserve Bank of India's draft norms on gold loans.

The DFS said it examined the norms and had sent some suggestions to the regulator on implementation. According to the department, the suggestions are being made to ensure that small-value borrowers were not adversely impacted by the rules.

Among the suggestions, the government is asking RBI to delay implementation of these norms till Jan. 1, 2026. "Such guidelines will need time to implement at the field level and hence may be suitable for implementation from 1st January 2026 only."

For FY25's GDP figure, which came in at a four-year low, Sitharaman said India is sustaining its growth as the fastest growing economy for the fourth straight year without a break, thanks to the work of small, medium and large scale industries. "I'm glad that India's industries and manufacturing activity have all been so good in quarter four."

The GDP growth rate rose to 7.4% in the January-March quarter as against the revised estimate of 6.4% for the October-December quarter.

For the full year, the GDP is estimated to have grown by 6.5%, which is the same as compared to the second advance estimate of 6.5% — the lowest in four years. The GDP was estimated to grow by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to economists polled by Bloomberg.