On the reform front, structural reforms both at the central as well as the state level need to be undertaken. CII has been continuously engaging with the Government and political parties in advocacy efforts to promote reforms in critical areas such as Banking, Insurance, Land acquisition, Manufacturing, Mining, etc. This has been stepped up in the current year as certain reforms have the potential to be game changers for the economy, said Mr Godrej.
“Opening up of foreign direct investment in critical sectors such as single brand retail, civil aviation and defense and allowing FDI in multi-brand retail will also go a long way in improving the sentiments on economic growth and also help increase the capital flows, said Mr. Godrej. To stimulate investments, CII is advocating further reduction in interest rates by 100 bps by December 2012 and easing banks’ reserve ratio, accompanied by measures to unclog supply side to control inflation, added Mr Godrej.
The next generation of economic reforms is at the State level. Some of the key reforms that CII will advocate are related to Agriculture, Power, Land Acquisition and reforms related to procedural & clearance issues faced in setting up new businesses said Mr Godrej. To push for these reforms, considerable policy advocacy is needed at the state level. CII propose to setup a Central Taskforce to Monitor State Level Reforms and strengthen our advocacy with States for speedy implementation of reforms, he added.
Meanwhile, on the energy front, while CII will continue to advocate for coal and hydrocarbon reforms to alleviate fuel shortages which have emerged as a key bottleneck for the power sector, distribution reforms in this space are another critical area that need focus. There is also a need to explore implementation of renewable energy based Power Projects to reduce the power deficit in the country.
Manufacturing can and should become the engine of growth for the Indian economy said Mr Godrej. For this, CII is engaging with the government to identify & promote 4-5 large manufacturing zones (NMIZs) in resource endowed states with a focus on Green manufacturing.
In the Agriculture sector, states must facilitate reforms such as strengthening legislation around contract farming; de-notification of vegetables and other perishables from the APMC list and long term land leasing of agricultural land for cultivation with farmers still retaining their ownership rights.
On the infrastructure front, India’s Infrastructure deficit is widely acknowledged as a critical impediment to achieving higher growth. Therefore, to step up the pace of infrastructure development, CII has launched a task force on Infrastructure Projects - Monitoring & Advocacy to monitor the implementation of projects of national importance.
To enhance capacity of the youth population and enhance their employability, CII has been taking a number of initiatives on skill development. These include; 3 skill hubs that are operational in the current year with a proposal to increase 3 more in 2012-13; 8 Skill Gurukuls were set up last year with PanIIT alumni and CII will set up another 22 in the next 2 years. 2 Sector Skills Councils have been formed in the area of healthcare and BFSI. 4 more in Pharma, Renewable Energy, Logistics and Foundry are planned for the coming year, said Mr Godrej.
Sourced From: Integrated Brand-comm Pvt Ltd.
