CII FOR LONG TERM APPROACH BY NEW GOVT :PRESIDENT, CII

By 1 2 1 News Reporter

Chandigarh 19^th May:-- More than 70 top industry leaders of the country took part in the National Council of CII meeting today.

Ajay Shriram, President, CII said that CII and industry are in a buoyant mood post the election results. Industry was looking for a stable government, which would be in a position to make swift and bold decisions and that expectation has been met by the verdict in the Lok Sabha elections. With absolute majority, the incoming government would have the time and ability at their disposal to ensure that the more complex problems of the country are addressed. Commenting on the agenda for the new government that CII has prepared, Ajay Shriram said that CII is looking forward to working very closely with the government on a wide array of issues. While the primary aim would be to revive the economy, CII does not believe that this government should be given something like a very short period agenda. In fact, we are keen that a vision for economic development along with targets for growth be set for the next three to five years at least. GDP growth could be targeted to rise to 6.5 percent initially, going up to 8.5 percent by 2016-17. The economy is beset with complex problems and trying to find short term solutions to long term issue would be counterproductive. The new government might have to take hard decisions, some of which might not be very palatable to industry in the short term. However, as long as these are aimed at curing the economy of its present ailments, CII would be firmly with the government on these issues. A huge thrust has to be on implementation since that yields results most visibly. Then there are irritants like the land acquisition act and the new companies act, which need comprehensive overhaul to make them practical in the context of realities today.

Delineating some the areas of intervention that CII would lay emphasis on in its agenda for the government, the CII President said that the focus would be on promoting investments; reviving manufacturing; containing inflation; boosting exports; fiscal consolidation; ease of doing business; promoting savings; financing growth and attention to implementation. The agenda is comprehensive and provides a large number of suggestions. One of the key issues affecting the global investors' perception about India is its ranking of 134 among 189 countries on the World Bank's Doing Business index. CII believes it is possible to have an ambitious target of getting into the top ten within a five year period and is working extensively on the subject. A first part of our work was released today and the balance would be finished shortly. We are confident that with pro active leadership at the top, India would once again become a favourable place for doing business.