Industry should call for a law against bribery and must be held accountable for delivering good governance, said R. Seshasayee, Executive Vice-Chairman, Ashok Leyland.
While there is a demand for good governance and the need to root out corruption for economic growth, it is the responsibility of all concerned to abide by the law. Industry should get together to call for a law against bribery along the lines of the UK’s bribery Act.
The economic reforms of the 1990s fuelled private sector growth, and the subsequent promise of opening up public goods and services including roads, ports, telecom and power had attracted investments.
The “promise of big play fuelled growth” but had not been backed by objective institutional systems when it came to handing out licences for telecom, mining or land allocation.
A strong, sustainable Government is needed to enforce rule of law, he said in his address at an event on current state of Indian economy organised by the Jain International Trade Organisation.
Nilesh Shah, President-Corporate Banking, Axis Bank, said trade deficit had ballooned due to rising imports of non-essential items – shipments of non-defence related aircraft and boats stood at $17 billion in 2012-13. Import of coal, a commodity in which India has rich reserves, was at $16 billion.
“Over the last five years, we imported gold worth $200 billion.” He says unnecessary tax concessions and subsidies have fanned fiscal deficit, reflected in the low tax to GDP ratio of 10-11 per cent: the average corresponding figure in other emerging economies is 16 per cent. S. Abhaya Kumar, Managing Director, Shasun Pharmaceuticals, said foreign investment in drug firms will not affect the manufacture of essential drugs in the country. Since a majority of drugs manufactured in the country are modelled after patent-expired medicines, there will be no shortage even after the influx of foreign investments. He said the capital will only help Indian companies upgrade technology.
Subramanian Swamy of the BJP said the country does not face a shortage of resources but just that these have to be priced properly. Allocation of 2G spectrum, coal blocks and oil fields at appropriate prices would have contributed to strong economic growth.