FM Warns Of Tariff War Fallout, Backs India’s Economic Resilience

India's economic fundamentals stand strong in the face of the global tariff wars, said Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of India, while addressing an audience at the BSE celebration for completing 150 years.

"We recognise that the global landscape is changing rapidly, and the world is going through a phase of ‘trade recalibration’. Given our global interconnectedness, the Indian economy is not isolated from these global risks and challenges," she said.

She further added that the intense tariff wars have the potential to disrupt global supply chains, increase production costs, and create uncertainty in investment decisions across borders. This has had a ripple effect on the financial markets across the globe, including Indian markets.

However, she hailed India's resilience in the face of these global uncertainties.

Talking about the growth of the Indian economy, the finance minister mentioned that from being the 10th largest in 2014, the nation has now become the 5th largest and is on its way to being in the third position.

Praising the increasing involvement of retail investors, she said that retail participation is also surging. FY25 alone saw the addition of 4.1 crore demat accounts, bringing the total to 19.2 crore.

“The median age of Indian investors is 32 years, with over 40% of them under the age of 30, and one in four investors today is a woman,” she added.

She credited the mutual fund industry with enabling financial inclusion, noting that assets under management (AUM) had tripled in five years to Rs.65 lakh crore, with unique investors growing from 2 crore to 5.4 crore. “A majority of these assets are held in equity-orientated schemes by individual investors, reinforcing the grassroots strength of our financial system.”