PM-India Inc meet: Key takeaways

The trade and industry council chaired by the Prime Minister met in the capital today. The 23 member council discussed key economic policy issues. CNBC-TV18’s Aakansha Sethi reports on the key takeaways from that meeting.

Manmohan Singh met about close to 20 industry leaders including Ratan Tata, Sunil Mittal, Azim Premji, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chanda Kochhar. There were four key takeaways from the dialogue between India Inc and PM. The first was economic reform, inflation, corruption and environmental laws.

Economic reform

The PM commented that government is committed to economic reform. He specified financial sector reforms- reform in insurance and pension space, deepening of long-term debt market and of course tax reforms. The pension and the GST bills have been tabled in the monsoon session of the Parliament but will require the Left and BJP consensus before they are passed. That is what the PM said that economic reform may take time because political consensus will have to be built.

Inflation

PM conceded to the fact that inflation is the biggest concern facing the government right now but it will make sure that growth is not hurt in inflation management.

He also clarified his stand on future, saying that it is necessary to improve future markets if better price discovery has to be there.

Singh said, “We need to develop long term debt markets and to deepen corporate bond markets. This in turn calls for strong insurance and pension subsector. Some of the reforms needed particularly in insurance involve legislative changes. We have taken initiatives in this area and we will strive to build the political consensus needed for these legislative actions. I am happy that the corporate sector has responded positively to the challenges of sustainability. We stand committed to ensuring that our industry moves ahead with confidence and without fear or apprehension.”

Corruption

Also the other big concern that has been grabbing headline is the 2G scam especially with top industry leaders being called by the PAC. The PM said that he is aware of the fact there was nervousness amongst the industry on recent developments but he will make create an environment where corporates can move forward without fear.

Environmental laws

On environmental laws also he addressed industry’s concerns on ambiguity in such laws saying that the government is working on regulatory institutions to make sure that these are rule based.