India’s many business problems are ‘diminishing’

Global investors feel demonetisation might have caused short-term pains for lower income groups, but will bring long-term gains to the economy, said Antwerp Port Authority Chairman Marc Van Peel, who is visiting India as a part of a Belgian delegation.

He told BusinessLine that confidence in the economy under the Modi government is still high, and investors are hoping for faster pace of reforms, particularly labour reforms. Excerpts:

Has the general business climate in India changed in the past few years?

I have been regularly coming to India for the last 10 years. The general business climate has improved and there is more confidence in the economy, in the Central government; Modi government is very good. Several State governments are doing a good job in reforming labour markets.

The GST reform, which has been in the works for 10 years, takes time to implement. There are people losing money because of demonetisation — there is a dark and a bright side. However, I think the bright side is more.

We also see in our trade statistics in Antwerp port: business with India is growing a lot.

The trade with India is driven by chemicals and steel import because the EU has taken anti-dumping measures against China; also, container traffic of consumer goods, still small, is growing.

Has India’s demonetisation drive and GST rollout impacted Antwerp port’s business?

We as port authorities do not see any impact. But businesses tell us that demonetisation has had a bad effect on the income of the lower income groups. But in the long term, making all the informal and the black economy a part of the formal economy is a good thing. I think it is a good example of a new policy taken by the government, which is good in the long term, although there might be protests against it in the short term. That is also what our business partners are telling me.

India has moved up the rankings in ease of doing business. Does that change the way Antwerp port looks at India?

Yes, it does. We now see a lot of problems regarding red tape, bureaucracy, etc, diminishing. Government initiatives such as Make in India, Invest India, Skill India... I was impressed by Invest India and Make in India, where finally all the business people who want to invest in India can go to one shop and get all the help regarding all procedures and regulations for all States.

What are your expectations from the Indian government?

The direction is right, but the pace of reforms could be quicker.

Regarding the ports sector, there are many steps, such as having more major ports, providing autonomy to port authorities and making them function with a business-facilitating orientation.

We, as Antwerp port, are also trying to help the government achieve the same objective, except the pace is rather slow, it should be quicker.

Antwerp port is the economic power engine of Europe. It is not just good at handling cargo, but also has the biggest petrochemical cluster of Europe. We also have the biggest cluster of warehouses, where a lot of value-added logistics are going on.

Antwerp is already the most important port for India for both export and import. And while the port is important from the logistics and supply-chain point of view, it is also important from the investment point of view.

We are looking for investors from India in chemical and petrochemical sectors to anchor at Antwerp port. We will also be looking at exporters of steel to Europe for infrastructure and cars, which are cyclical businesses.

Antwerp port also balances out various goals — environment, transport and cost — while remaining competitive...

We are also trying to make Antwerp port an important actor in the global approach towards UN sustainable development goals. We — not just the port, but the entire business community — bring out a sustainability report every two years.

One of of the main projects there is reducing the transport on road and having more cargo shifted to barges (inland waterways) and rails. We also have a network of pipelines for crude oil as feedstock for the petrochemical industry. We are also working on an another important project, called NXT port — an IT platform using blockchain technology, where all logistics players can share their data, but with confidence-building measures that their competitors will not know.

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