Industry defends Modi’ s policies

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 25

Defending the Modi government’s policies, India Inc has said the “pro-industry” label on the government by the critics is pure rhetoric.

Industry body FICCI today sought to silence the critics of the Modi Government who are touting its pro-investment, pro-growth and pro-employment policies as ‘pro-industry’ as if business-friendly policies are against the common man and national interest.

Presenting a report card on the completion of one year of the new government at the Centre, Jyotsna Suri, president of FICCI, said, “The main achievement of the government in the past year is the creation of a positive business sentiment, restoration of investor confidence and establishment of ‘Brand India’, by framing policies that rest on transparency and fairness.”

Terming the government’s pro-industry label as “pure rhetoric”, Dr Suri said without growth it would be impossible to provide jobs to the 23 million young people who descend in the job market every month. The slowing down of rural and urban demand was a cause for concern, she said that government spending on infrastructure projects must rise significantly to fuel the industrial economy.

Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, said, “In its first year, the Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has turned around investor sentiments and taken strong action across multiple sectors for scripting a new growth narrative. Policies have contributed to infusing more competition into the market, harnessing new levers of growth, and dispersing more powers to state governments in the spirit of federalism.”

Rana Kapoor, president of Assocham and CEO of YES Bank, said the Modi government has astutely addressed short term micro and macro concerns while successfully enhancing India’s economic and political stature globally.

Adi Godrej, past president, CII and chairman, Godrej Group, said, “The government in the past year has taken unprecedented and innovative steps of a scale that could not have been envisaged earlier. They have succeeded in changing the economic calculus of the country by demonstrating that 120 million bank accounts can be opened at short notice or 4 lakh toilets can be built in schools in a year”.