One of India Inc's biggest players Ajay Shriram says there are many schemes by Modi govt, it's time for Centre-States to implement them

As all eyes are on Modi government’s much-awaited budget to see if it will give the much-needed impetus to India’s economic growth, Mr Ajay S Shriram - Immediate Past President, CII and Senior Managing Director, DCM Shriram Ltd - feels pushing for progressive reforms across all sectors with special focus on agriculture and manufacturing, and effective implementation of the government’s big schemes by Centre and the States together, is what India needs at this moment.

“Together these measures can go miles in helping bolster the Indian economy. Firstly, there are two reasons why we need adequate focus and thrust in the agricultural sector. One, we have 110 million farming families and 82 per cent of them have below 2 hectares of land. I think that is a big challenge. The second is it’s a concurrent subject so both the States and the Centre have to work for it. The Centre might allocate funds but how do the states utilize or implement it, that’s the question we need to address,” Mr Shriram said, on the sidelines of a CII event in New Delhi today.

Therefore, on discussions on behalf of the CII with the government, he said, the industry chamber has been talking to government officials on ways States can be pushed to actually start implementing government’s schemes whether its irrigation schemes, power availability, removing APMC Act, easing out availability of fertilizers, soil cards etc.

“There are so many things to be done. I think the government will and should focus on the agriculture sector,” he said.

He also laid stress on the importance of manufacturing and highlighted its impact on the Indian economy.

“The government has realized that the need of the hour is job creation. We need to come to 25% of GDP in manufacturing by 2022 as the government aims to provide a million jobs a month by then. In view of this, both agriculture and manufacturing need to become profitable activities, otherwise we cannot create enough jobs for our people,” Mr Shriram said.

Happy with the way India is moving ahead on two fronts when it comes to taxation policies, he said, “The government wants to simplify the tax structure and bring down exemptions. Even as it looks everything will become far less complicated after the Budget, the tax rules and regulations must become more transparent and understandable for ease of doing business and also, so that people are encouraged to adhere to these tax laws.”

However, he added to this, that “Indian tax laws have been a 20-30 year legacy of complexity” and sorting them out would take a long time.

“But, we are happy with the direction the government is taking. The initiative government has taken are very progressive and forward looking. Where would one see the competition between states that we see today,” Mr Shriram said, adding that virtually every state in India is having investment seminar, they are all changing policies and trying to become attractive investment destinations because “by now, they know that it is only by becoming attractive do they have a chance to attract investments and thereby provide more jobs to their own people.”

However, with regard to Narendra Modi’s big schemes (Skill India, Swachcha Bharat, Make In India, Digital India and Startup India), Mr Shriram said: “The government has already done a lot. It’s time for implementation and execution that has to be focused on. Our discussions have been revolving around the fact that there are many schemes already. We have requested them to push them so that we can start getting them implemented correctly.”

He further said as he concluded: “I think government is pushing states by allocating funds, bringing in simplicity in policies, by reducing a centralized control system of the earlier Planning Commission etc. Ultimately, India is one big country but we are actually 29 mini Indias within one India. So, Centre-States both have to move together for overall economic growth of our country. This is exactly what we want to see after Budget.”

(Image Credits: CII)