mobile
 
CII Media Releases
 
Enabling Policies and ease of doing Business: Game Changer for reviving manufacturing: Richard Rekhy
Jul 25, 2014

“India’s position in the Ease of Doing Business continues to be less than favourable with the latest rankings placing India at 134th position amongst 185 countries; lower than its BRICS counterparts”, emphasised Mr Richard Rekhy, Co- Chairman, CII Invest North 2014 & Chief Operating Officer, KPMG India at a Panel Discussion on Addressing the Challenges of Doing Business in India with focus on Reviving Manufacturing’ held as part of the 3rd edition of CII Invest North Conclave organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), here today.

Some of the key highlights of panel discussion were:

·        Larger inflows of foreign investments are irrefutable aspects needed to achieve a sustainable and high trajectory of economic growth.

·        Enhancement of FDI limit in defence and insurance and many other reforms on taxation and manufacturing, real estate has ushered in positive investor climate.

·        Only manufacturing sector can absorb the demographic dividend of the Indian population which will consistently require reforms and enabling policy framework.

·        Manufacturing has grown at the rate of 8 percent in 10 years, but has been reduced to 1 percent growth in 2012-13 and a near negative growth in 2013-14.

·        Need to change the mindset to consider Industry as a partner in progress rather than someone who needs to be checked at all times. 

·        Till date there is no policy on warehousing across country, which is a critical enabler for manufacturing sector.

·     Issues of concern and possible solutions for ease of doing business are known to all, it is high time that all stakeholders move to “how” part or “action” to resolve them.

·      Multiplicity of authorities, the plethora of regulations, lack of effective land acquisition process, stringent taxation regime, high costs associated with starting a business, complicated and time consuming contract enforcement, impeding growth.

·        For India to grow at 8-9 percent in the coming years will require manufacturing to grow at over 12 percent.

On the ranking of India at the World Bank Doing Business report 2014, Mr Sanjeev Saran, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure and Industrial Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Executive Director, Udyog Bandhu, urged all stakeholders should be involved to identify the best practices to be implemented across the states. In this regard, the central government can also take the lead to implement international best practices across the states on ease of doing business. He advocated movement towards self-declaration like done in income tax.

Mr Amit Yadav, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Industries, Commissioner VAT and CMD, DSIIDC, Government of NCT of Delhi highlighted the key issues that the investors face in doing business in Delhi which include land pressure, growing population, multiplicity of authorities.

Mr Ravinder, Director, DIPP, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, shared his perspective on the steps being taken by the government and also stressed on the need to learn from the best practices across globe and also within India.

Mr Shreekant Somany, Chairman & Managing Director, Somany Ceramics Ltd, while highlighting the buzz created around ease of doing business, emphasized the regulatory environment in the country with plethora of rules and regulations, often overriding each other adversely impacted business.

Mr Vineet Agarwal, Managing Director, Transport Corporation of India Ltd., said that enabling infrastructure in form of services and logistic support are the key imperatives for the manufacturing sector. He stressed on the need to identify the enabling impact of warehousing and transport sector on manufacturing and create policies accordingly which give due weightage. Mr Agarwal also mentioned about the need to have a policy for Multi Modal transport that enables seamless transportation and logistics across country.

Mr Gaurang Pandya, Managing Director (Climate, Control & Security) UTC (India region) said that India has immense opportunities for business. The key concern areas include the availability of physical infrastructure, ethical and corruption free governance, progressive labour laws, tax regulation. Industry and the government should work in sync to create an enabling environment in that regard.

New Delhi

Email to a friend   Print
Download CII App:
App Store Google Play