While condemning the hike in VAT on petroleum products in view of the fact that the State Government's decision has been against the principles of "Amma", entrepreneur-turned politician and former minister MaFoi K Pandiarajan said "the hike is a reflection of the State's pathetic financial situation''.

"Good governance is the need of the hour; every delay is only going to be a time bomb. The people at the helm should act quickly and responsibly before the situation takes a turn for the worse."

"The State Budget, to be presented on March 16 could show huge deficit. This has to be brought under control, and then there is a whole lot of work to be done in the run-up to the implementation of GST from July 1. The present government assumed charge two weeks back, but possibly because of the uncertainty on the political front, haven't started governance of the State earnestly yet," he said.

Pandiarajan said this on the sidelines of an event 'Jumpstart 2017' - a start-up conclave, organised jointly by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore and TiE, Coimbatore chapter.

To a query on Tamil Nadu losing out to neighbouring states on the investment front, the former minister said: "The project commitment made by prospective investors during the last Global Investors Meet has started to take shape and expected to take off soon. The Government should in fact be ready with the plan for GIM 2017. The prepartory works normally takes about 10 months to a year. Former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa envisioned the GIM once in every two years.That being the case, it should happen during September. A delay of two months should not matter, but we cannot afford to put it off beyond December."

Earlier, in his Chief Guest address, Pandiarajan brought to mind India's transformation from agricultural economy to an industrial one, and from knowledge era to the present.

Citing erstwhile management guru C K Prahalad, he said: "in 2006, Prahalad had said that this is age of "GIVE - Governance, Innovation, Value, Entrepreneurship".

"While most people understand "G and I", Value is something that many fail to understand and it is not merely about valuation. It is about the scale, scope and depth; the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams," he said and urged the participants to experiment their ideas, adding "the ecosystem has never been better than now for jump-starting a venture''.

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