In conversation with BusinessLine, Naidu shared his thoughts on the Prime Minister’s New Year address, demonetisation, the challenges before his ministry and the way forward. Excerpts:

The Prime Minister’s address to the nation is being seen as a ‘mini union budget’, as he has unveiled some government schemes. Some also see it as a balm for soothing the after-effects of demonetisation. How do you react to it?

No (it is not a mini-budget), it is a major relief to the people. There are benefits of demonetisation to the poor, middle classes and the honest tax-payers.

The PM will not rest till the last reform is implemented.

Demonetisation is part of the grand strategy to address the issue of black money and corruption. For example, there are other issues of benami properties, registration process, real value of land versus real estate prices, among others.

Should we see the Prime Minister’s address as also a wake up call for the banking system, which is seen as the weakest link today?

Yes, it is a wake-up call for the banks to be more pro-poor, pro-small businesses. It has been reported that bank credit so far has been extremely concentrated and only 300 companies were getting it. The announcements by the Prime Minister will seek to rebalance this and encourage loans to small businesses.

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It is alleged that when selecting Smart Cities, you have opted for cities which are already better positioned. For example, Visakhapatnam...

There is no involvement of the Centre. This is all through competition. Cities are proposed by the State government after internal competition. See, developing a city is different from the concept of smart cities.

These cities are to be lighthouses so that others can learn from their experiences. For other city development, there is the AMRUT scheme.

Criticism was that Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were discriminated when selecting smart cities, but I had told them that even Prime Minister’s and several key cabinet ministers’ constituencies were not there. Selection for smart cities was based on certain parameters.