India Inc to watch policies for expediting investment: HCC

In an interview to CNBC-TV18 Ajit Gulabchand, CMD, HCC shared his views on the outcome of state assembly elections held in five states and the latest happenings in his company. He said that this outcome clearly indicates that people are not satisfied with the current government and its policies. “Entitlements by the current government have not enticed anybody to vote them. Also, people see BJP as that much needed change. Even the Aam Aadmi Party, which is trying to fight the issues of corruption,” he elaborated.

He further added that the Indian stock market is cheering this outcome and stocks are doing well, but that does not necessarily mean that India Inc is celebrating. Many infrastructure projects have been stalled for quite sometime now, due to regulatory and environmental hurdles, so India Inc needs more predictability in policy and would monitor those policies for expediting investment in the sector. Also Read: Here's what brokerages are saying about BJP's 4-0 victory Below is the edited transcript of Gulabchand’s interview with CNBC-TV18 Q: What is your key takeaway from the election results? How much of a difference would it make to corporate India? A: The election result states that people want a change because policies of the present government have not delivered what they are seeking, which is primarily employment. They are looking for better education facilities, better infrastructure and government has not been able to present them with that. It is also very clear that entitlements have not enticed anybody to vote. So, from this, it is very clear that the present policies and implementation of the government of India is not acceptable to the people. They feel that the BJP now represents that change. The Aam Aadmi Party, which has shown a great amount of courage last year is trying to fight the issues of corruption. One may not necessarily agree with what they want, but they are representing some kind of change and this is a vote for that change. Q: The indices are up 2 percent. Your stock has already doubled and today it is up 5.7 percent. What exactly is India Inc celebrating? What you think investors are celebrating when they are pushing up stocks? A: When the stock market goes up, it is not that the India Inc is celebrating, those who have invested are celebrating. So, let us not link it to that, but the issue is what India Inc would like to see are policies that allow environment of investment for them to continue to grow, continue to do new projects without being hampered from time to time and without being continuously having serious execution risks which have sprung up in the last five years. So, India wants to see more predictability in policy. Q: Do you think that the next government that comes to power assuming it is the non-Congress or it is an NDA led coalition, will it not be dogged by the same civil society watching it with a hawk eye. Do you think this bureaucracy, which has not delivered very well in terms of integrity or transparency is going to deliver eight months down the line when there is a new government. Will not that heat of civil society continue to slowdown decisions? A: You must understand that every encounter of the government with the citizen of India is a very ugly one whether it is at the highest level of business or whether it’s a common man walking on the street. So, there is anger about the excessive control of government over the lives of people. Having said that there is an enormous need to improve administration of the country and governance. So, administrative reforms are called for is all what it says. We use words like transparency, but they need to be defined - what you mean by transparency?