The Hindu Business Line : ‘Infrastructure holds key to double-digit growth’

Mumbai, Oct 27 The biggest impediment to India’s growth is laggardness in infrastructure development, said Mr Sanjay Nayar, Area Head of Citigroup operations in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

He was speaking at the symposium held in connection with ‘Prayaag,’, an annual inter-business school and corporate event of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai.

Slow progress

India’s slow progress in agriculture, its lack of inclusive growth, and internal security threats are the other challenges in achieving a double digit growth rate, he said. In recent years however, the Government’s spending on agriculture has increased. This, combined with a ‘private sector push’ could strengthen the agriculture sector, Mr Nayar said.

Although India has a strong growth profile, much needs to be done in areas such as education, the polity and infrastructure, said speakers at the symposium.

Corp bond market

The equity culture in India has a long way to go, while the corporate bond market should be opened up in the country, said Mr. Nayar. The role of private banks should be further enhanced for revitalising the financial economy.

There needs to be further liberalisation to remove the constraints on private and foreign banks, he said.Although the Indian capital markets have shown phenomenal growth in the past, India’s overall financial markets have a long way to go, said Mr. R Ravimohan, MD, Standard and Poor’s, South Asia.

Global linkages

In his presentation on “How Global are Indian Markets”, he talked about the robust policy measures that govern the Indian markets whose infrastructure is “one of the best in the world.”

“We have also adopted some of the best practices and standards in financial markets. In spite of these factors the degree of foreign participation is still not satisfactory. The linkages of the Indian markets with the global markets leave a lot of room for improvement,” he said.

Polity’s critical role

For India to continue on a high growth trajectory, Indian polity would have to play an extremely critical role, said Mr. J J Irani, Director, Tata Sons.

Dr. Iran, a Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet, highlighted the importance of industrial and technological research.

Primary Education

He highlighted primary education as a key focus area. The Tata group has been extremely active in this regard, setting up several community primary education centres in various parts of the country.

Dr. Irani also spoke about the Indo-US Nuclear Deal as being the best thing that could have happened to India. Given that India has vast reserves of Thorium that can be used as fissionable material; he considered nuclear technology crucial to leverage these resources.

The Pro-Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University, Dr.Arun Sawant inaugurated the meet. As many as 40 teams, including 20 from corporate houses participated in ‘Kwiz Kraft,’ a business quiz which was held as part of ‘Prayaag 07’. The two-day event at JBIMS with business plan contests, equity research competitions and market research concluded on Sunday.

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