The new Narendra Modi government is doing a lot to make it easier to do business in the country. But it has miles to go before India's ranking in this area improves significantly. That's the word from captains of Indian industry including Sajjan Jindal, Dilip Shanghvi and Tulsi Tanti, who together command a market capitalisation of nearly Rs 5 lakh crore.
However, speaking at a conference on how to build a new India organised by Antique, these captains agreed that the government's efforts would not amount to much unless corporate India pitched in.
Here's a list of areas the industry bigwigs believe have seen some progress, and some areas where a lot still needs to be done.
Sajjan Jindal, Chairman & MD, JSW Steel - On govt boosting industry confidence
Prop up the confidence level that we are with you, we want to support you, we want industry, we want manufacturing and that is what this government has done - whether it is the Prime Minister or his colleagues - they are giving this confidence back to the investor community and that is the first very important step.
In the UPA-II where we suffered, there was no clarity of thought whether the government wanted projects to happen. One wing or one arm was saying we have to move forward and the other one was saying no we have to go back.
This government is putting all these things into order. Similarly on the ordinances that they issued on iron-ore and mining minerals, it has become very clear that now it will be through the auction route, through a transparent route. So, I think over the next two years my belief is that all these large projects which are mineral based will get sorted out.
Ashwin Dani, VC & MD, Asian Paints - On demand on the ground
Signals are very clear that on the ground demand is yet to pick up and until the demand really picks up I think the consumer industry is still not feeling the positive vibes that we see in the environment.
Dilip Shanghvi, Founder, Sun Pharma - On employable and skilled youth
We see that availability of graduates from college who are employable is limited. So, typically most of the people that we hire they go through an extensive training programme .So, I think the important focus before we can become a supplier of products globally is to look at education and create capacity in our education system to generate employable youth.
On the other side, you have industry problem of not getting enough people of the skill that they require. We have to find a way to bridge this because manufacturing unlike services require specific skills and capability for us to succeed and to be able to compete globally. The other issue is the issue of innovation for our business. Philosophically, as a country we have never given premium for original thinking. It is easier to copy, safer to copy because you have less risk of failure.
Sajjan Jindal, Chairman & MD, JSW Steel - On dumping
We don't have very quick redressal system on dumping. So when, for example lets take an example of Russia and Ukraine where their currencies have crashed by nearly 100 percent they have become double of what it used to be. Demand within Russia and Ukraine has collapsed. So, they are now dumping steel into India. Our government does not have a very quick mechanism or even the industry is not prepared to apply to the government to take a very quick action on this redressal to bring in countervailing duties or bringing in anti-dumping or safeguard duties. So, now the industry is working together to create this concept. We are already in discussion with the government.
Dilip Shanghvi, Founder, Sun Pharma - On R&D
I think there are lot of bureaucratic restrictions in research. So, for doing animal experiments, for import of large animals, for doing lets say phase 1, phase 2 studies, human studies, lets say when you are doing clinical trial for cancer drug. So there would be some deaths in clinical trial possibly because of the drug, the number of deaths would be lower than it would have been otherwise if they were not treated. However, the regulatory process that is now in place for any company to do clinical trial in India and the kind of responsibility on the sponsor for any kind of potential - say like normally in India you can't do a placebo control study. Globally you can do placebo control study. So, large number of unrealistic restrictions prevent the industry to be able to invest in research.
Tulsi Tanti, Chairman & MD, Suzlon Group - On policy initiative and target versus momentum
Two, three policy initiatives already government has taken which has accelerated investment into the industry. However, when we see the size of the target versus the momentum it is not good enough.
200 gigawatt target and even countries future requirement, 30 percent energy we have home resources – green and solar. Huge potential is there. We have technology within the country. We are exporting technology to developed economies also. More focus is required on financeable PPA and security of the payment. That is the key bottleneck to unlock the size of the market.
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