Govt should de-control petrol prices: Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

Q: There has been so much talk about how much of the next move will be led by policy initiatives, Budget, government formation etc. do you think the Budget is that big an event?

A: No, I don't think so. Market is a constraint of so many ingredients. Therefore it is not that a single ingredient by itself is going to be the decider. I don't think the Budget is very important from the longer-term point of view. Surely it is important because it is the first serious policy statement of the new government. But I think people distinguish the policies of government from the apparent policies and the unapparent policies; apparent reforms and unapparent reforms. I think for longer-term unapparent reforms are very important.

Today I read in the Financial Express that now they will put all the applications for environmental clearance on the net. There is going to be transparency. If you do that and if you have proper land acquisition laws, so much investment will get speeded up into this country which is far more important than any statement that Finance Minister (FM) makes or even the allocation of 20,000 crore for infrastructure spending. I think this change is worth 2 lakh crore. So I think these are the unapparent reforms which are not in your mind but they have a slow effect; where you computerize things wherever the bureaucracy is dealing with the citizens, agriculture, study of subsidies, removal of anarchic clause. These are the reforms which - Indian Telegraph Law which has been in existence in 1885 and today is 2009, a modern company law. I think so many other factors are there, policy initiatives in agriculture where you look upon agriculture as a business and where we can make these businesses profitable for the farmer, the occupation. So I think unapparent reforms are extremely important.

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