Mumbai, Nov 6 (IANS) ‘Atmanirbharta’ is not isolationism but resilient interdependence — capable of meeting domestic needs while integrating with global value chains, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.

Addressing the ‘SBI Conclave 2025’ here, she said that ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ envisions an India that designs, produces, and innovates for itself and for the world — an economy rooted in self-confidence, powered by enterprise, and guided by compassion.

“It is the coming together of economic strength, technological capability, social empowerment and environmental responsibility — all aligned with the larger goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047,” the finance minister stressed.

She laid down five broad dimensions of an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’: Economic self-reliance; Social self-reliance; Technological self-reliance; Strategic self-reliance; and Energy self-reliance.

“The work towards achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047 through ‘atmanirbhar’ route had commenced from 2014 itself,” said the finance minister.

She also appealed to all banks to make sure that the HR policies are such that “you’re not recruiting just for the sake of numbers but recruiting to ensure that every staff member posted at a branch understands his/her customer and speaks the local language”.

“I would also strongly push for performance-based appraisals based on his or her efficiency in the local language,” she mentioned.

FM Sitharaman was delivering the inaugural address at the 12th SBI Banking and Economics Conclave 2025, on the theme ‘Realising the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

Moreover, she said that the government is “not here to shut the door on futures and options trading but to remove the roadblocks and work on them”.

“It is investors’ responsibility to understand risks”, she noted.

SEBI chief Tuhin Kanta Pandey said recently that “we cannot just shut down weekly F&O expiries, many market participants are using this”. In order to evaluate the wider market impact of F&O trading patterns, the SEBI chief stated that the regulator is now gathering and analysing a large amount of data on these patterns, and the same will be released in the form of a consultation before moving forward.

–IANS

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