India Inc wants economic revival package; meets Rangarajan

The Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Dr C. Rangarajan; 


with the CII President, Mr Adi Godrej; the CII Director-General, Mr Chandrajit Banerjee; 


the Chairman, DSCL Group, Mr Ajay Shriram; and the Vice- Chairman, Toyota 


Kirloskar Motors, Mr Vikram Kirloskar; at a meeting in the Capital on Monday. -- 


Ramesh Sharma


BL :10 July 2012

India Inc has approached the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) to improve the perception about India as an investment destination.

With this objective, representatives of at least four chambers, including CII, Assocham, Phdcci and the Southern Chamber of Commerce and Industries, met the PMEAC Chairman, Dr C. Rangarajan, here on Monday.

During the deliberation, the CII President, Mr Adi Godrej, said, “The economy and particularly the industry need a set of immediate measures for revival of growth. The macro economic conditions are worsening at a faster pace than anticipated and we need to stem this at this stage. I am requesting that an ‘Economic Revival Package’ be announced by the Government and RBI in close coordination.”

Pointing out that he was mindful of the compulsions of coalition politics, Mr Godrej said that the current fiscal situation poses limitations to what the Government can do compared to the situation in 2008-09.

But Dr Rangarajan has turned down the industry demand for a stimulus package saying that current fiscal situation does not allow this.

“Unfortunately, that makes it even more imperative that such a package be announced now, since a few months down the line the economy would probably go beyond the threshold,” he added.

Pitching for spearheading the process of reforms, the Assocham President, Mr Rajkumar Dhoot, felt that this would help arrest India’s falling economic growth, widening current account deficit, increasing short-term debt and public finance management which are posing serious challenges to the domestic economy.

“All the aspects of a policy process must be dealt with in a single window approach and the administrative processes involved in the implementation of Government policies need to be simplified and made coherent to result in minimum compliance burden,” he suggested.

After the meeting, Mr Godrej said that they pressed for early introduction of GST, fast tracking of foreign direct investment in insurance, aviation and multi-brand retail. Above all the perception of India needs to improve especially after GAAR and retrospective amendment.

In continuation of the consultation process, Dr Rangarajan is scheduled to meet financial sector representatives on Tuesday