“We should consider establishing a fund to support new-age manufacturing, similar to the Innovation Fund that the government has already announced. This will play a crucial role in scaling up capacity and capability to create larger large-scale Indian manufacturing businesses,” said Dinesh, who is also the executive vice chairman of TVS Supply Chain Solutions.
He further advocated a fund to assist micro, small and medium enterprises with operational expenditures, capital spending and green transitions.
Dinesh also stressed on the importance of a Goods and Services Tax Council-like structure to facilitate coordination between the Centre and states on big-ticket reforms. The new government will not need to do anything drastically different to attract private investment, he said, adding, “I don’t think we are talking about a reluctance because of certain issues. Let us not forget that we have come out of very difficult scenarios, and geopolitically, many unknowns are taking place.”
Nonetheless, he said, sectors outside the purview of public capex push had started witnessing capital spending from the private sector. These included automotive, tourism, healthcare, hospitality and logistics, as well as new-age sectors such as renewable energy and medical devices, he said.
“Startup funding is now focused on profitable growth. Models that are differentiated both from usage of technology and usage of both online and offline modes are where the benefit is coming in,” he said. The CII president also said that there was a need for regulation in new-age sectors and that the industry body would help evolve self-regulation and work closely with the government to develop regulation as well.”We have to take the lead to develop the right regulation for the developing south or the global south rather than look at it from the perspective of what necessarily works for the developed world,” he said. Dinesh also stressed on the need for some tweaks to sustain reforms and carry forward growth, skilling initiatives and employment-linked incentives. Given the size of the economy, he said, India’s problem was not missing the bus again like in the past but seizing the opportunity to grow even faster. He said building the reform agenda consensus was the biggest impediment, along with the monsoon and geopolitical situation. “We need to watch out for what happens to the monsoon. However, the real challenge is geopolitical issues. Commodity price fluctuations, if they happen, will impact us quite negatively,” Dinesh said.
