Mangaluru : Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday urged graduating management students to serve the community after understanding its needs, thereby strengthening the macro economic activities of the country.

Speaking at the 36th annual convocation of T.A. Pai Management Institute at Manipal, Ms. Sitharaman said acquiring skills from the institute would not be enough and the gap has to be bridged by serving the community.

That was the personality of the founder of the Institute, T.A. Pai, the Minister said, lauding him and other members of the Manipal Pai family for establishing a state-of-the-art educational and financial hub in the coast.

Complimenting the people of undivided Dakshina District in general and the Pais of Manipal in particular, Ms. Sitharaman said this part of Karnataka had a huge educational disadvantage during the British Presidency era when people had to go to Madras, Bombay, or Bangalore for higher education.

Without waiting for the government support post-independence, people here built educational institutions that now have acquired International reputation, she said. She recalled her family had a close association with T.A. Pai, after whom TAPMI was named.

Dwelling upon her Budget announcements, Ms. Sitharaman said the next 25 years, till when the centenary of Independence, would be the ‘Amrith Kaal’ during which time the fintech, engineering, medical, pharma, and other sectors were poised for bigger growth. The country was poised to become the ‘vishwa guru’, she said.

Urging students to join the start-up league and contribute to India’s growth and development, the Minister said when she was in Washington attending the World Bank meet, everyone who had a bilateral discussion with her clearly mentioned how fintech captured the major imagination of Indian students.

During the next 25 years, many futuristic things would have to be accomplished by the government. When India would be 100, many of the present and future generations would be proud of the country that has mastered digital payments, digital technology, digital learning, digital banking, digital teaching, and digitisation of its records, she said.

Digital banking units would start functioning in 75 places from this year. The Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City announced in the Budget opens doors for any foreign universities with a physical or digital presence for teaching financial matters, fintech-related matters, science and technology, and medicine. It also requires a lot of quality teachers and practitioners, she said.

Manipal Academy of Higher Education Pro-Chancellor H.S. Ballal, TAPMI Director Madhu Veeraraghavan and others were present.