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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has underlined the need for focusing on four Is -- infrastructure, investment, innovation and inclusivity -- to achieve sustainable growth in the long-term. She said the global economy in the past few years has faced trials and tribulations, and countries have made efforts to protect the vulnerable section of the society at the cost of higher government borrowing.

Sitharaman stressed that there is also a need to involve the private sector to step up investment and innovation. Elaborating on the four Is, she said investment is essential to spur infrastructure development, which has a potential to generate jobs. The third I is for innovation, she said adding innovative solutions from startups are required to deal with issues facing the countries. The fourth I is for Inclusivity, she said, adding unless all the people are included in the development process, there could be conflict in the society. She further said so 4Is for the long-term and in which private sector involvement, not just public sector investment, (is essential). India in the last 3-4 years has spent trillions on infrastructure development.

The Minister further said that there was a need to focus on labour intensive industries and provide skill development. Industries are re-setting themselves in the Web 3.0 era. Governments, together with industry, will have to bring in the skill sets required for a technology-driven society. She said there should be a conscious effort to move to capital expenditure from revenue expenditure. She noted that capital expenditure helps to create assets and creates a multiplier effect in the economy and it benefits the labour & semi-skilled workers. Pitching for global coordination, she said, the world is not decoupled so anything happening anywhere does have an impact on every country.