Acquire land for industries, set aside Rs 3 lakh crore for revival, CII president to Centre

The newly elected CII president said that the government can create common infrastructure in these industrial parks whether it is effluent systems, utilities, etc. 
Mr. T. V. Narendran (Photo | Twitter/@FollowCII)
Mr. T. V. Narendran (Photo | Twitter/@FollowCII)

NEW DELHI: Recently elected CII president and Tata Steel MD and CEO has said that the country needs to either make it easier for the industry to acquire land or the government can acquire land to set up industrial parks where industries can set up their units there instead of industries spending a lot of time acquiring lands.

TV Narendra was responding to a query by The New Indian Express on the future reforms that the Indian government should undertake to ensure the country grows at 8-9% in the medium term.

The newly elected CII president said that the government can create common infrastructure in these industrial parks whether it is effluent systems, utilities, etc. 

"This is how you will encourage manufacturing, industrial investments to come in because everyone may not have the patience or ability to navigate the complexities of acquiring lands and setting up industries in India," he says.

The second important reform that he pointed out could be key to achieving 8-9% growth is ensuring changes in the labour laws are implemented on ground. 

"A lot of laws have been passed as far as labour reforms are concerned by the Union government but deployment has to happen at the state level,” he said.

He also felt that the states need to compete with each other for investment so that they make it easier for investors to come in and invest.

He also feels that the government must continue with the reforms on the ease of doing business, cost of doing business, and simplification of tax structure. “Unless you do that you won’t get the growth momentum that you need to create jobs that are required," he says.

On the growing outrage over the gap between income tax rates and corporate tax rates, the CII president says that eventually it is about improving the tax-to-GDP ratio and finding the right tax level so that the compliance goes up and so does the tax collection.

"When you look at the corporate tax rate, the challenge before the government is that it is competing with other countries (for attracting foreign investors). If you are looking to attract foreign investors, then that foreign investor is going to look at the effective tax rates. So, the corporate tax rate conversation is not only about at what rate you tax domestic companies but also about how to attract foreign investors, who may also be looking at other destinations like Vietnam, etc," he says.

Speaking on the ways to revive the economy badly hit by the pandemic, he says the government should give a Rs 3 lakh crore fiscal package to revive the economy. He also advised the government to run a fiscal deficit of 8% in the current financial year as well instead of bringing down the fiscal deficit to 6.8%.

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