‘GST logjam bad omen for economy’

With the GST Bill stuck in Parliament, the pace of economic reforms has become unpredictable, said Kamal Bali, Managing Director, Volvo India.

Addressing the 8th edition of CII annual manufacturing conference here, Bali said, “In addition to GST, we also need labour reforms (Small Factories Bill 2014, IR Bill 2015 & Wages Bill 2015). Easier contract enforcement, accelerated economic activities, more manufacturing, more MSMEs in the ecosystem, higher order value-capture, lower cost of capital are other areas that need focus.”

The country needs at least a million new jobs a month, which can only happen with focus on manufacturing, tourism, infrastructure and skills training.

Economic disparity in India is not sustainable, he said. “Though we are a $2.1 trillion economy, our per capita GDP numbers are amongst the lowest in world,” he added.

“We need to grow at over 10 per cent in the next 15 to 20 years to lift 40 crore people out of poverty. We have to bring about a paradigm shift in skilling and education missions for making our workforce employable or entrepreneurs,” he said.

“For this, we need convergence of all stakeholders, irrespective of ideologies or political affiliations, to put their stated differences on the backburner, at least for once, to realise this single minded shared purpose,” he added.

Munesh Makhija, Managing Director, GE Technology Centre & CTO of GE India, delivered the keynote address.

“We are entering the third Industrial Revolution which sees a new collaborative ecosystems emerging – the convergence of physical and digital world. Advanced manufacturing techniques and industrial internet will spark the new industrial revolution,” he said.

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