Healthcare major Apollo Group’s Shobhana Kamineni has all her hopes set on the Indian economy and has predicted a 10 per cent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in three years.
On Thursday, Kamineni, Executive Vice-Chairperson of the Apollo Group, took charge as the President of the industry body Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) for 2017-18.
Addressing mediapersons, Kamineni, who is the first woman President of CII, said she expected GDP growth to touch 8 per cent in the ongoing fiscal based on “normal monsoon, good global climate and strong macro-economic fundamentals of the country.”
The CII’s new head was also in favour of bringing the agricultural economy under the tax net. She said CII was “broadly in favour of widening the tax base” and felt that “non-farm rural income” and those where the income was over the tax limit could be included in the tax net.
The issue had recently raised a furore when Bibek Debroy, Member of the NITI Aayog, said farmers should be liable to pay taxes.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, however, was quick to deny any plans to bring agriculture under the tax net. A move to bring agricultural income, while economically sound, has political ramifications. Kamineni said reforms, such as the Goods and Services Tax, expected to be implemented in July, along with high investments in infrastructure projects and greater women’s participation in the workforce, would be the significant drivers of the economy.
“Our conservative forecast is that based on these projects, (such as ₹30 lakh crore investment in Railways, 20,000 km highway construction, and Sagarmala port development) India’s GDP could increase by as much as 50 per cent over the next five years. Similar increases in job creation can also be expected,” she added.