Industry Keen on Suggesting Govt’s 100 Days Agenda

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh having promised 100 days action plan for his government, trade bodies like Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) are keen on suggesting what government should be focusing on in these 100 days.

Both CII and FICCI want infusion of money into the economy and reduction of interest rates by at least half a per cent by the Reserve Bank of India.

“We would like to see the fiscal deficit coming down in next budget particularly revenue deficit so that money is available for capital infrastructure. We would also like to see monetisation happening,” says CII President Venu Srinivasan.

It should be noted that the infrastructure growth has nearly stopped in the last five years and the trade bodies want that infrastructure spending is augmented from four per cent to 11 per cent of gross domestic product.

World class roads, ports, airports, power stations etc figure in industries’ list of desirables and also it wants special incentives for low cost housing to be made.

“’The 100 days are significant because it is an important signal not only to what happens to our Indian economy but to see how the world sees us… that we mean action and thus attract capital,” says FICCI President Harsh Pati Singhania.

India will need 50 crore skilled workforce by 2022.

For this they want more private sector participation and even foreign universities are welcome. They also want the right to education bill implemented.