Optimism seems to be the buzzword for the newly elected President of the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Ajay Shriram, who expressed a lot of that sentiment while emphasising confidently in an interview to The Pioneer that expediting stalled infrastructure projects and rolling out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will definitely push economic growth to 8 per cent by FY17.
Charting out his priorities at the helm of affairs within the industry body, Shriram said that creation of jobs and acceleration of economic growth is the thrust area for FY15 and keeping this in mind, he expressed confidence that whichever Government comes to power after the impending lok Sabha polls, will focus on growth.
“This is an exciting time as a new Government is to come in place at the Centre and whichever Government comes, will want economic growth and we would like to get a chance to share our thoughts with them regarding our thrust areas of job creation and fuelling growth,” Shriram said.
Shriram, who is the Chairman and Sr Managing Director of DCM Shriram ltd, said that in what ways greater thrust can be given to fast track stalled big ticket infrastructure projects and ensuring GST rollout, is his key focal point.
“How to give bigger thrust to stalled projects and how to expedite them is the area of focus. GST is another area which will expedite growth as it will bring transparency. If GST comes into effect, GDP will go up by 2 per cent to 3 per cent. Manufacturing also needs to be pushed,” the CII President emphasised.
Expressing satisfaction at the performance of the UPA Government over the last three months of FY14, Shriram said that “during this period, inflation was under control, current account (CAD) was stable, and rupee also stabilised. All this is a good sign and any new Government (at the Centre) has been provided with a good base to start with”.
Referring to a recent study carried out by CII, he said that the outcome of the analysis was that all the Governments at the end of the day (irrespective of the parties ruling in the States covered under the study), want growth.
At the same time though, Shriram noted that all the proactive attitude being shown by the UPA Government, came in quite late in the day, due to which the country lost out in terms of growth.
“In terms of policy there has been a more positive environment in the last three months. (However) we have lost a year and a half. Definitely if it (the thrust by Government) had come two years ago it would have been better,” he said.
Maintaining his optimistic tenor, Shriram said that though the growth rate has come down, faster clearances to stalled projects and being bullish on the manufacturing policy will expedite growth.
“In India transaction costs are as high as 10 per cent to 12 per cent wherein China has 3 per cent to 4 per cent transaction costs. Setting up industrial corridors would smoothen movement of goods and reduce transactional costs. Also foreign investors have ample faith in India and in order to keep ourselves in the race among top investment destinations globally, we need to be more competitive,” Shriram explained.
When asked whether prediction of uneven monsoon this year may fuel inflation, he said that its impact can be minimalised as India has good food grain stock and proactive management of the storage situation is required.