Reforms like land, labour, Capital & Entrepreneurship needs push for over 7.6% growth: PHD Chamber

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday recommended four major reforms such as land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship for accelerated growth, exceeding 7.6% per annum to fulfil India’s aspiration to emerge a leading economy in the world.

In addition, the Chamber also emphasized reforms in agriculture and construction sector to enable it come out of on-going slowdown mode of economic activities to spur up demand for India’s industrial produce.

The aforesaid suggestions emerged at a Seminar on Growth Prospects of the Indian Economy under aegis of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today which also sought a fair playground for overseas MSMEs to be operational on Indian soil with relaxed labour laws and relaxed regulations for ease of doing business.

The Seminar had a consensus on the issues identified above with participants such as former Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Ajay Dua; National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Prof. N R Bhanumurthy; Professor, Research & Information System, Ministry of External Affairs, Dr. Ram Upendra Das; Principal Director, Comptroller and Auditor General, Dr. Nilotpal Goswami; Former Vice Chancellor, JNU, Dr. B B Bhattacharya; Director, KPMG, Mr. Himanshu Rattan; Vice President, PHD Chamber, Mr. Anil Khaitan and its Secretary General, Mr. Saurabh Sanyal.

It was emphasized that land reforms has become imperative as it is a major ingredient in the four factors of production because of its availability factor with creation of land banks for utilization of industry.

Labour reforms, according to the suggestions of the Seminar is another ingredient of the four factors of production and amendment to the prototype land laws would be key for enhanced IIP with softening rate of interests and strengthening of micro financing institutions as part of proposed capital reforms.

As regards to entrepreneurship reforms, the Chamber is of the view that removal of administrative bottlenecks, improvement in infrastructure utilities and simplification of taxes would go a long way in promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship.

Reforms in construction sector, as per PHD Chamber is not performing well because of reasons such as high interest rate and slowdown in demand as the growth of construction sector in Q1 of 2016-17 stood at 1.5 per cent.

Agricultural sector reforms are also crucial in enhancing demand with focus on irrigation, soil improvement and productivity, crop protection and organic farming, the economy would achieve higher growth and development in the future, concluded the Seminar.