Principal Secretary to PM Shaktikanta Das emphasized the government's commitment to maintaining reform momentum while addressing the CII Annual Business Summit 2026 on Monday. According to reports from The Times of India, Das, a former RBI governor, stated that 'there is no reform complacency and govt remains steadfast in pursuing the reform agenda' as part of India's journey towards Viksit Bharat@2047. He stressed that the government is steadfast in pursuing reforms along with policy certainty, which will ensure that India not only maintains macroeconomic stability but also emerges as a globally competitive economy. Speaking at the summit, Das outlined seven broad priorities for the domestic private sector, calling on businesses to build organisational resilience, strengthen balance sheets, create diversified supply chains, expand into new markets and invest more aggressively in research and development as well as artificial intelligence.
As reported by The Times of India, Das highlighted several reform initiatives that have already been implemented, including steps to enhance strategic self-reliance across multiple sectors. The government has taken steps to enhance strategic self-reliance from rare earth permanent magnets to critical minerals and ship building. Das indicated that several more steps are in the pipeline as part of the ongoing reform agenda, demonstrating the government's comprehensive approach to building domestic capabilities. He noted that 'it is now evident that no single supply chain remains the cheapest, safest and predictable on a sustained basis', making resilience maximisation increasingly replace cost minimisation as a priority for businesses.
According to The Times of India report, Das emphasized the need for strategic reorientation in the evolving global economic order. Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit 2026, Das explained that 'it is necessary for businesses and enterprises to undertake a strategic reorientation of their operations' in today's world of geo-economic fragmentation and supply chain disruptions. He noted that excessive dependence on a single supply chain or 'just-in-time' supply chains was no longer viable in an increasingly fragmented global environment. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also addressed the summit as keynote speaker, describing the current global environment as 'very turbulent' and urging India to act swiftly to capitalise on emerging opportunities at the critical global technology inflection point.
During the summit, Rajesh Agrawal called on Indian companies to better leverage the free trade agreements (FTAs) signed by India in recent years. As reported by The Times of India, Agrawal said India's track record in utilising FTAs effectively has been 'less than satisfactory' and stressed the need for industry to capitalise on access to large complementary markets opened through such agreements. He added that the government's objective through these FTAs is to provide Indian industry with a predictable trade, tariff and regulatory environment. The government's commitment to policy continuity and calibrated reforms comes amid concerns that the prolonged conflict in West Asia could disrupt global energy supplies, raise crude oil prices and put pressure on India's foreign exchange reserves.
