Industry, along with Government, should identify 100 mega projects and put them on the fast track, the newly appointed President of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Mr B Muthuraman, said on Monday.

Such a move will help the Government achieve a 10 per cent GDP growth, Mr Muthuraman told newsperson in his first interaction after taking over as CII President.

Investments have moderated in recent times and identifying such manufacturing projects with Government monitoring and ensuring their fruition will help bring the investments back on track, he said.

Manufacturing growth should be targeted at 12 per cent and its share in the GDP at 25 per cent, he added. “This should be followed with creating a common market, improving investment climate and better mechanism for allocation of natural resources,” he said. The CII is keen to take industrialisation to the smallest states and promote manufacturing as a wealth creator and distributor.

Advocating an amnesty scheme to bring back black money into the country, Mr Muthuraman said a carrot and stick method should be employed. He added that those who do not make declarations must be punished.

“We are dead against corruption,” he said. The CII President added that bribery cannot be made legal, it must be punished. Maintaining the growth momentum during a rising inflationary phase was very much like walking a tightrope, a solution should be worked out keeping the long-term implications in mind.

”It is a challenge, a matter of balancing many things. Inflation will resolve when global commodity and oil prices become stable. The short-term solution is to hike interest rates, which the RBI is doing. But the long-term and sustainable solution is to increase investments, productivity, fix the supply chain, increase investments in manufacturing sector and make goods available.”

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