Captains of industry, who met Minister of Commerce and Industry and Textiles Anand Sharma here have lauded the Government for announcing bold reforms which would help restore growth.
The corporate leaders urged the Government to boldly go ahead with its next round, since the imperatives were in place for the second phase of reforms.
In a closed door meeting in Mumbai, corporate citizens spoke about how the Government has been tenacious and persistent in going ahead with the reform process, despite opposition. Maintaining that the Government has finally responded to months of incessant criticism on its policy paralysis, corporates urged the Government to ahead with further significant policy changes.
“We have urged the Government for a stable and confident environment in the country which will enable it to attract foreign capital,” said an official, requesting anonymity.
Urging the Government to have a continuous dialogue with the industry, bankers present on the occasion said the Government should undertake road shows and start connecting with investors.
Corporates have called for the Government “to steer a clear path, one in which there is no uncertainty on policy decisions and one in which foreign investors feel welcome”.
Stating that there should be no roll back of reforms, corporates have whole-heartedly welcomed the reform process.
Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group; Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra and Mahindra; B Muthuraman, Vice-Chairman, Tata Steel; Chanda Kochhar, CEO and Managing Director, ICICI Bank; Noel Tata, Chairman, Trent Ltd; Nimesh Kampani, Chairman, JM Financial; and Thomas Varghese, CEO, Textiles Business, Aditya Birla Group; were among those who attended the meeting.
Corporates have asked the Government to ensure a “continuous communication exercise to explain why the reforms process is good, how and why various sections of society are set to benefit”, since there is an intrinsic belief that FDI in retail is set to bring in several benefits to all sections of society, especially the farmers.
“This alone will create a pull factor, if the farmer engages in a dialogue with the Government and is informed about the entire process. Now that the reform process has begun, the Government should continue the good work,” said another official present at the meeting.