Anand Sharma pitches for Higher FDI cap for Defense Sector

Anand Sharma pitches for Higher FDI cap for Defense Sector    Apr 03, 2013

Mr Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Textiles, said that the Commerce Ministry would push for higher foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in the defense sector, beyond the current 26%.

He was addressing the session on ‘Future of India’s Industrialization’ at Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Annual General Meeting and National Conference 2013, held in New Delhi today. This, he stressed would help India to become one of the major defence producers of the world.

Mr Sharma said that the Government was committed to address the issues constraining the industrial performance by putting in place an institutionalized arrangement for fast tracking infrastructural projects. All pending projects would get speedy approvals from the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) in the coming months.

The Minister said that several steps were taken in the recent past by the Government to improve the investment climate and investor confidence in the country. The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor is the most innovative project that could spur growth. The Central Government, in partnership with the State Government, has been fast-tracking the setting of integrated townships along the corridor, which would provide a fillip to industrial growth in the years to come, he added. The investors in this project would not need to acquire land as the land will be provided by the State Governments as their equity in this project, he mentioned. The impact of these measures would help India improve its ranking in the ‘Doing Business’ survey of the World Bank.

Mr. Sharma said that the domestic industrial performance has suffered considerably due to the difficult and challenging global macro-economic scenario, which lasted over almost five years. Despite the coordinated effort by the governments world-wide, the recovery has been slow. In order to guard against the ill-effects of the global slow-down, Mr. Sharma, suggested the India Inc. to stay optimistic and not let any negative sentiments to hamper the recovery process. India is a rule-based and rule-governed country. Hence, it’s pertinent to keep the growth engine ticking by not letting the shaky investment environment bog down the growth prospects, he stressed.

Elaborating on the importance of improving the availability of infrastructure for industrial use, Mr. Sharma, emphasized making land available at an affordable cost. The National Manufacturing Policy (NMP) has taken some noteworthy steps to address this problem, he added. “For sustenance of a large population, it’s pertinent to increase the share of manufacturing in the GDP”, the Minister elaborated and added that  “for us, achieving high manufacturing growth is not a luxury, but a necessity and it must be a national imperative to achieve the same. India has to prepare itself for becoming a part of the world’s assembly line and in order to achieve this feat, we need to take steps to enhance technology, innovation and the skill levels of our labour-force,” he outlined.

While welcoming, Mr Sharma, Mr Adi Godrej, President, CII, stressed the need for taking urgent redressal steps for bolstering the industrial growth. Amongst these measures, are the need for nation-wide monitoring of projects, over-hauling of complex regulations including labor laws, focus on provision of infrastructure and boosting the production levels of SMEs. Mr S Gopalakrishnan, President Designate, CII, concurred with the views of Mr Sharma in the importance of lifting India’s ranking in the ‘Doing Business’ survey.