Tag: CII

Farm package is not a populist move, it’s the need of the hour: CII

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Rakesh Bharti Mittal, president of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) & vice chairman of Bharti Enterprises, and Vinayak Chatterjee, chairman of Feedback Infra, shared their expectations from interim Budget 2019.

“Given that the elections are around the corner, we expect some policy measures for salaried class will be taken,” Mittal said.

“There will be significant allocations for farm distress and for social sector,” added Mittal.

Talking about farm package, Mittal said, “The government may fire on multiple cylinders as far as farm package is concerned given Prime Minister’s vision of doubling the farmers’ income.”

“However, I believe diligently that this not a populist move, this is the need of the hour,” he added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

What India Inc expects from interim Budget 2019

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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With just a week left for the interim Budget, CNBC-TV18 spoke to a slew of experts to get a sense of what India Inc is expecting from the finance minister.

At World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan caught up with members of CII and India Inc and asked them about the key measures that are likely to be announced on February 1.

Rakesh Mittal, president of CII and vice chairman at Bharti Enterprises, Tulsi Tanti, CMD of Suzlon, Chandrajit Banerjee, DG at CII, Puneet Dalmia, MD of Dalmia Cement and TP Chopra, CEO of Bharat Light and Power shared their expectations from Budget 2019.

“I think there is extreme stress in the rural sector, farm sector and clearly the governments need to do much more and beyond rather than just having the policy initiatives. Because of the Federal structure, any policies which gets finalised or discussed at the national level, ultimately the implementation lies with the states. My view is that when we look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision on doubling the farmers’ income, it will happen at a pace very slowly in the current given circumstances. This can only be fast-tracked if private sector is highly incentivised in getting into the farm sector,” said Mittal.

“When I see the Indian economy, I think three segments are there, agriculture sector, manufacturing job creations and exports and service sector. These three sectors in budget process are properly given balance. That will give the holistic inclusive growth opportunity to continue the momentum because there is a momentum, our growth is good at 7 percent. It should not be difficult for our country to manage more than 7 percent growth area,” Tanti added.

According to CII’s Banerjee, the Budget should announce measures for taxpayers. “We have seen goods and services tax (GST) getting settled in. So on the procedural side, it has been good but what we need on the taxation side is to see that we see taxation coming down, 25 percent is important and then a roadmap towards 18 percent. So we need to get that. We are really high-taxed economy if you look at the direct tax. Indirect tax having been done, direct tax needs to be done,” Banerjee said.

For Dalmia, this year’s Budget will be a feel good budget and a headline-grabbing budget. “In the next six months, people would still hold back making big investments, announcements can be made but I think only once there is clarity in terms of what elections throw up and many scenarios can be thrown up, only after that I think real decision will come. I want to add one point on the Budget, I think there has been a foundation laid for a multi-decadal growth in India. Tax compliance is going up, revenue leakage is reducing because of direct benefit transfer (DBT) but there is a pain of this transition and the cost of this transition is being paid upfront and the recent state elections showed us that there is no feel good factor. I have no illusions that – this budget is a vote on account so it is not a budget, which will get implemented without the next government – this budget will be a feel good budget and it will be a headline-grabbing budget,” Dalmia said.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Davos 2019: Madhya Pradesh seeks global investment as India’s ’emerging economic tiger’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Promoting itself as “India’s emerging economic tiger,” Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday invited global investors to the country’s biggest state with promise of all necessary infrastructure and a favourable business ecosystem.

Chief minister Kamal Nath said Madhya Pradesh is not a fully urbanised state and it was largely rural-focussed mainly on agriculture.

Terming job creation and agriculture as his main focus areas, the senior Congress leader said he wants to ensure that agriculture is linked to the industrial growth in the state and the new industries that come up create employment in a big way.

He said there is a deep-rooted frustration over jobs, not just in Madhya Pradesh but in the entire country, and this can create a big social problem if not tackled immediately.

He was addressing investors at a session here on the sidelines of the WEF annual meeting.

The ‘Invest Madhya Pradesh’ session was organised by the Madhya Pradesh government and leading industry chamber CII to promote the state as “India’s emerging economic tiger’.

Nath has been a regular at Davos as a union minister in the past, but has come for the first time as chief minister this time.

He urged investors to look at his state differently than they did earlier, saying he was doing his best and the investors should also do their best now.

Nath said several states have set up pavilions here, but he has none as he wants the investors to talk about the business opportunities available in in the state.

Madhya Pradesh’s Chief secretary S R Mohanty said, “apart from being biggest state, it has been blessed with a whole lot of minerals, is a power surplus state and has a huge road network and even the Narmada water is reserved for the industry there.”

He also promised a round the clock single-window business facilitation service for the industry and investors.

He said the state intends to do much better in terms of ease of doing business (it is ranked seventh right now) and the Kamal Nath government is committed to resolve whatever issues are there coming in way of industrial growth of the state.

Mohanty further noted that airlines have increased their flights to the state soon after Kamal Nath became the new chief minister and intend to further increase their connectivity in the coming weeks and months.

In what he described as a unique benefit available to the investors, he said Madhya Pradesh is the only state in the country with a ‘tax-delinked policy’.

The main focus industries include agriculture, automobile, textiles etc and now the state wants to focus on next generation technologies such as nano technology and artificial intelligence to make up for the state having lagged behind some others in the area of software and technology businesses.

The chief minister is committed in creating an extensive skill development framework in the state, the senior official said.

Our basic focus is on job creation while embarking on an industrial development path, he said.

He promised land at competitive rates for the industries and all necessary steps to improve business ecosystem in the state.

The session was also addressed by CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee and representatives of companies that already have a presence in Madhya Pradesh. It was also attended by those having made commitments to invest in the state.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India’s robust economic growth to continue in 2019, says CII

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The country is expected to witness strong economic growth in 2019, after it has emerged as the fastest growing major world economy this year despite growing global vulnerabilities, industry body CII said Sunday. The positive outlook is buttressed by strong drivers emanating from services sector and better demand conditions arising out of poll spend, with the general elections slated next year, according to the chamber.

“Better demand conditions, settled GST implementation, capacity expansion from growing investments in infrastructure, continuing positive effects of reform policies and improved credit offtake especially in the services sector at 24 percent will sustain the robust GDP growth in the range of 7.5 percent in 2019,” CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said.

The industry body observed that despite 2018 being filled with external vulnerabilities arising out of rising oil prices, trade wars between major global trading partners and US monetary tightening, India outshined as the world’s fastest growing major economy.

It has identified seven key drivers for growth that need to be fostered and suggested policy actions for robust GDP growth to continue in 2019. Among key growth drivers, CII hopes the GST Council will consider extending the tax to currently exempted sectors such as fuel, real estate, electricity and alcohol.

The chamber outlined that credit availability has been a challenge, particularly for the micro, small and medium enterprises, as credit flow to industry grew by a mere 2.3 percent in first half of the current financial year.

“CII submits that the RBI should introduce measures such as revisiting lending restrictions of PCA (Prompt Corrective Action) banks, opening of a limited special liquidity window to meet emergencies of financial institutions, including Mutual Funds besides others to improve liquidity in the system,” it said.

Besides, the process of insolvency resolution has taken shape, the chamber feels the government should consider setting up additional benches of the National Company Law Tribunal to strengthen the judicial infrastructure for easier and faster exit of distressed businesses.

The chamber believes the government will continue to place high priority on simplifying business procedures in 2019, especially in terms of working with states for grassroots improvements.

“We look forward to digitisation of land records, online single window systems in states, and enforcing contracts for even more improvements in ease of doing business,” said Banerjee.

On agriculture reforms, CII suggested that it is important to persuade states to implement the Agriculture Produce and Livestock Marketing Model Act, which has been implemented in just four states, to strengthen agriculture produce marketing.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

CII’s business confidence index reaches 64.9 for second quarter, shows companies more optimistic of their growth

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Business sentiment has been upbeat in the second quarter of financial year 2019 with organisations being more optimistic of their growth, shows Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) business confidence index which touched 64.9 in Q2FY19 as against 60.1 in the previous quarter.

The rise in the business confidence index is possibly because of the improved consumption and investment growth, said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of CII.

“A steep rise in business confidence reflects positive vibes within the industry about the business environment. It underscores the hope that the facilitative government policies would result in a faster rise in output and new orders, which would spawn a host of business opportunities for firms and business units both in India and abroad,” said Banerjee.

This quarter, the improvement in the index is due to a rise in the Current Situation Index and the Expectation Index, found the CII survey, which included 200 responses from large, medium, small and micro firms. The findings indicate that the respondents are confident on the overall economic activity, along with their own company’s business performance.

Nearly 64 percent of the respondents said that the GDP growth will lie in 6.5-7.5 percent range in 2018-19. Within the 64 percent, 36 percent expect the GDP growth to lie in the range of 7.0-7.5 percent while 28 percent foresee the GDP growth in the 6.5-7.0 percent range.

The business conditions are expected to improve in the near future as the survey predicted that 64 percent of the firms have anticipated an increase in the July-September sales.

On orders, 61 percent of the respondents are expecting an increase in the July-September period.

“Much of the recovery in business conditions is expected to be domestically driven as a large proportion of firms (58 percent) expect to maintain status quo on their export orders in July-September 2018,” the survey found.

The findings come despite a rise in the input costs. The input costs include rise in the prices of raw materials and fuel and the increase in the wage expenditure.

A total of 65 percent of the respondents are confident that there will be an improvement in the private sector investment activity in the remaining quarters of this financial year.

“More than three out of four respondents feel that business environment has improved post the implementation of goods and services tax (GST)- particularly in terms of ease in paying taxes and transparency in the tax system,” the survey found.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Moderate improvement in Q1 growth trends, reports CII-ASCON survey

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Indian economy witnessed a moderate improvement in growth trends in terms of production during the first quarter ending June over the corresponding quarter a year ago, industry chamber CII said on Sunday citing its joint survey conducted with ASCON.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-ASCON survey tracking the performance of 70 sectors in the April-June quarter said domestic demand and investment will be supported by better consumption patterns due to the favourable monsoon, moderation in inflation and the onset of the festive season, a statement said.

“The ASCON Q1 FY19 Survey results reflect steady progress in economic growth. What is especially significant is that there has been a perceptible increase in the share of sectors recording higher growth,” CII Director General Chandrajit said.

Fewer sectors are anticipating negative growth trends, which clearly points towards improvement in the economic environment, he said.

The survey classifies growth trends across four broad categories – Excellent (over 20 per cent), High (10-20 per cent), Moderate (0-10 per cent) and Low (below 0 per cent), the statement said.

“While the growth trends remain concentrated in the ‘moderate’ category, a deceleration in the pace of de-growth suggests firming of the recovery in the economy,” it said.

The survey showed a sharp increase in the sectors witnessing ‘excellent’ growth during April-June 2018, over the same period a year ago, with the share of such sectors improving to 14.3 per cent in the first quarter, from 5.7 per cent earlier.

The share of sectors recording ‘high’ and ‘moderate‘ growth improved marginally during the quarter in review, while the share of sectors witnessing ‘low’ growth (below) has come down substantially.

While the share of sectors registering ‘high’ growth improved to 21.4 per cent in the first quarter, from 20 per cent last year, sectors witnessing ‘moderate’ (0-10 per cent) growth improved to 44.3 per cent from 42.9 per cent earlier.

The share of sectors witnessing ‘low’ growth has come down substantially to 20 per cent as compared to 31.4 per cent recorded earlier.

Sectors which have registered excellent growth include commercial vehicles, three wheelers, construction equipment machinery, soya oil, tractors and sugar.

On the concerns of industry revealed by the survey, ‘Competition from Imports’ (50 per cent), ‘Regulatory Burden’ (42 per cent) and ‘Lack of required infrastructure’ (41.7 per cent) figure as the three most important issues.

A majority of 63.6 per cent of the respondents expect the business situation in their respective sectors to improve moderately whereas 31 per cent expect the situation to remain same in the next six months.

“The current expectations on the investment outlook for the next two months also point towards an impending recovery in investment cycle supported by improving capacity utilization levels amidst domestic demand recovery.

“Further, a continuous push for structural reforms such as GST, PSU bank recapitalization and time-bound insolvency resolution would also support the recovery,” the survey said.

As many as 59.1 per cent of the respondents reported capacity utilisation in the range of 65-80 per cent during the quarter, whereas 13.6 per cent reported capacity utilisation to be above 80 per cent.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

GST rate cut, return simplification to increase revenue, compliance, says CII

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The decision of the GST Council to cut rates and simplification of return filing process will increase the compliance rate and add to revenue buoyancy, industry chamber CII said .

The decisions taken in the meeting of GST council on July 21 will greatly benefit trade and industry, CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said.
“The attention to reducing rates and simplification of filing of returns as well as widening of input tax credit shall certainly increase the compliance rate and add to revenue buoyancy,” CII said.

The government and GST Council have been responsive and proactive to the requirements of trade and industry since the very roll out of GST, which has made its implementation the shortest period of adjustment as compared to other countries, it added.

Raising the limit for composition scheme from Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore, permitting composition dealers to supply services (other than restaurants) for up to a value not exceeding 10 per cent of turnover in preceding financial year or up to Rs 5 lakh and other decisions shall particularly benefit the SME sector, the industry body said.

GST Council also allowed businesses with turnover of up to Rs 5 crore to file quarterly returns — a move which will benefit 93 per cent of the GST registered taxpayers. They will have to, however, pay taxes monthly.
So far, businesses with turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore were permitted to file returns quarterly.

The council yesterday cut rates on 88 items, including ethanol, carpets, fridge, washing machine, paints and varnishes and also allowed input tax credit for textile sector.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

GDP growth at 7.5% plus a healthy sign for economy, says CII president

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Noting that impact of sustained structural reforms is now being felt on the ground, CII president Rakesh Bharti Mittal today said GDP growth at 7.5 percent plus was a very healthy and positive sign for Indian economy.

“I am very happy that in the last quarter, GDP growth at 7.5 percent plus is a very healthy and very positive sign for Indian economy. The trends and signals (of the economy) are on the recovery path,” Mittal said in a media interaction here.

“If you look at IMF, World Bank and other multi-lateral agencies including CII’s own projection, we are looking at GDP growth of 7.3-7.7 percent in 2018-19. So, USD 2.6 trillion economy growing at that rate .. If we are going to grow at a healthy rate of 8-9 percent year-on-year in future years, then by 2030, we are looking at India becoming a 10 trillion economy.”

For next year, the CII is looking at 8 percent growth, he said.

Mittal said the impact of sustained structural reforms is now being felt on the ground as a mammoth economy is turning around.

The industry chamber had recently highlighted eight key areas where reform measures have unlocked growth forces. These include India’s biggest reform Goods and Services Tax (GST), emphasis on ease of doing business, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, liberalisation in foreign direct investment (FDI) policy and high infrastructure spending.

Mittal today said sectors like consumer non-durables, two-wheelers and tractors are witnessing strong rural consumption.

“On Indian industry and Indian trade, we are seeing a healthy picture and this also is because rural consumption has started moving up,” he said.

He said structural reforms are settling down including GST regime.

“We have suggested to the Finance Ministry to start now looking at rationalising the tariff lines as well as rationalise the rates, which are in five brackets. I personally feel and believe that in India we cannot have single GST rate, but probably 2-3 rates should be good enough,” he added.

Mittal, who took over as CII president in April this year, said another recommendation which the industry body has made to the Centre is to bring four sectors which are left out–petroleum, power, alcohol and real estate– under the GST regime.

“The idea basically stems from that if we are talking of GST as one nation-one tax then everything needs to be part of that basket. It also helps the industry..,” he said.

Replying to a question on interest rates, he said, “when I took over as the CII President, my immediate reaction and response was that interest rate needs to be soft. For simple reason that now we are seeing the economy moving, now we are seeing the private sector investing into capital expenditure, they need support today…what we are saying is that RBI should consider the economic growth on one end, job creation opportunity which will come up and if they can be benign on interest rate”.

Touching upon another issue, Mittal said that India has always stood for free global trade.

“And if you see in the past few decades free global trade has been the norm and has benefitted most stakeholders… India has the opportunity now to start bilateral treaties on sectoral basis. While India is moving ahead on Free Trade Agreement discussions including the UK and I think post Brexit that will be a great opportunity for Indian businesses,” he said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow