Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

01-June-2012 18:52 IST

Difficult Times Should Not Lead to Inactivity: Anand Sharma

Government Industry Task Force Meets to Consider Moderation in Industrial Growth

Addressing the 3rd meeting of the Government-Industry Task Force, here today, The Union Minister of Commerce Industry and Textiles, Shri Anand Sharma said that difficult economic climate not only in the context of Indian economy but the global economic situation at large and extreme concerns with the moderation in industrial growth should not shock us into inactivity. “The immediate challenge for a country like India is to appropriately calibrate the macroeconomic policies for addressing the down side risks from advanced economies to spill over into our economy and maintain adequate availability of credit for industrial activity and also provide an investment climate which encourages foreign capital flows”. The Minister continued “we have also been concerned with the weakening of Rupee against Dollar and its implications on our current account balance”.

The members from industry side raised their concerns regarding hiccups in industrial growth and gave their suggestions to overcome that. Shri Adi Godrej of CII advocated disinvestment, subsidy containment and monetary stimulus. He said that a few quick reform announcements will create a virtuous cycle and concerted action can revert the negative sentiment. ‘Coming back to 9% growth rate is imminently feasible’, added Shri Godrej. Shri R V Kanoria of FICCI asked for cut in interest rates and asked the government to look into issues of MAT and problems in the proposed land bill. Shri Harshpati Singhania He expressed concerns over rising input cost for the industry.

With regard to industries concerns on slow implementation of anti-dumping, both the Commerce Secretary Shri S R Rao and Shri R.S. Gujral, Finance Secretary said that the process have considerably streamlined. Shri Hari Bhartiya called for containment of market distorting policies like subsidies.

DS/GK

Macroeconomic policy calibration to sustain industry growth and credit access, alongside subsidy containment and monetary stimulus. The operative imperative is to calibrate macroeconomic policies to limit spillovers from advanced economies, ensure adequate credit availability for industry, and maintain an investment climate that attracts foreign capital; currency weakness and current account implications require attention. Industry proposals include disinvestment, subsidy containment, monetary stimulus and interest-rate cuts, alongside tax and land law reforms, while officials report streamlined anti-dumping processes.