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| For India Inc, UPA-II scores 6/10 |
| BS Reporters / May 22, 2010, 00:48 IST |
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India Inc. is happy with UPA- II’s first year in office, but feels it could have done more to push reforms given the mandate it enjoys. Yet, industry feels the government has done well to manage growth in a year of global turmoil and push key reforms, like the Women’s Reservation Bill, Education Bill and the Unique Identification Project.
In a snap poll of CEOs by Business Standard over the last two weeks, they gave the government an average score of six out of 10, with many giving it a seven. This was no post-Budget exercise, where many people tend to give high marks. The CEOs were assured their views and identity in the survey would be kept under wraps.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee stole the honours for the best minister for stimulating growth and boosting consumer confidence with a growth-oriented and tax-payer-friendly Budget. CEOs felt the stimulus measures helped the economy weather the downturn while cuts in personal taxes and a growth-oriented Budget boosted consumer sentiment. His decision to stagger the withdrawal of the stimulus measures, despite inflationary pressures, came for more applause.
A few also picked up P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal as the best ministers, but when it came to choosing the worst, there was very little confusion: Over two-thirds picked Telecom Minister A Raja as the UPA’s worst man. Raja was followed by Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who many felt was largely responsible for the mess at Air-India, and Sharad Pawar, who many felt did little to check food inflation.
The UPA received kudos for pushing key legislation like the Right to Education Act, which promises compulsory, free education for children in between six-14 years of age, the Women’s Reservation Bill, which will keep 33 per cent of the seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures, and getting Nandan Nilekani to head the UID project. The focus on infrastructure, disinvestment and tax cuts were seen as other good decisions.
The worst decisions of UPA-II, the CEOs said, were the handling of the Telangana crisis, the Naxalite menace, food inflation, the railway budget and awarding of 2G licences for a song. “I find total lack of transparency in both ministries with the flip-flop in telecom and civil aviation. Re-appointing Raja as the telecom minister was a bad decision. Look at the mess Air India is in,” said a Mumbai-based chief executive.
Many felt the UPA had missed the bus on petroleum price deregulation by ignoring the recommendations of the Kirit Parikh committee on decontrol of petrol and diesel prices.
Though UPA-II is more coherent and has done better than UPA-I, it seems to be carrying the disadvantage of partnership with the DMK.
“The level of corruption that goes into decision-making has shot up. Corruption has graduated to a level of extortion,” said a CEO.
“The UPA leadership is losing control of its ministers,” warned another CEO.
India Inc. hopes the UPA leadership would try to address some of these issues and take some more tough decisions in the second and third years of office.
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