Industry ready for GST introduction from July 1: CII

The reform agenda has picked up with substantive policies such as GST, insolvency and bankruptcy norms, FDI liberalisation and ease of doing business being implemented. Conditions are positive for an economic recovery in the current year, with GDP growth expected to lie in the range of 7.5-8 per cent.

"With tremendous opportunities available in the Indian economy, further strengthening of the growth process and job creation is on the horizon,” said Kamineni while addressing the media.

"One of the key priorities for CII this year would be to help revive domestic investment, which has been flagging and the economy has been growing largely on the back of exceptionally high government spending on infrastructure, etc," she added.

Going forward, it is possible to target 1 per cent additional growth each year to reach 10 per cent in the next three years. She said that it is eminently possible to create 5 million jobs each year, if the GDP growth rate can be boosted by an extra 1 per cent.

"CII's analysis shows that as of now, we are creating about 3.7 million jobs annually. 10-12 million people enter the working age population every year. Of these, about half actually do not look for jobs as they prefer to go into education or other activities. CII's intensive skill development activities are ongoing and are designed to enhance the employability of the workforce," continued Kamineni.

For the economy to move to a higher growth path, the slowdown in investments must be reversed. Consumer demand has been improving across sector and this should lead to higher capacity utilisation and further, to capacity expansions soon. The current interest rate structure is still too high to induce investments and the RBI must find ways to continue on a downward interest rate path, according to CII.

“CII would continue to request the government for quick action in reducing corporate income taxes for all corporates. This has become urgent given the lowering of tax rates across many other countries. The 25 per cent rate is currently applicable only for companies with turnover up to Rs 50 crore. Eventually, the corporate tax rate could be brought down to 18 per cent together with the removal of all incentives. CII believes this will lead to much better tax compliance," the CII President said. (KD)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India