Investments will pick up due to govt spending, note ban, GST: Ajay Piramal

He also said that services will add more jobs than manufacturing in future

Investments in the country are expected to pick up soon, said Ajay Piramal, chairman of Piramal Group & Shriram Group. He added that this, coming on the back of the government's spending in the public sector, demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST), would help the country achieve faster gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Considering limited capital, he said that the services sector would create more jobs than manufacturing, similar to how it used to be in the past.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 13th annual convocation of Great Lakes Institute of Management, in Chennai, he said, "I think demonetisation and GST will bring in more revenue to the government that will be used for investment. As the investment goes up, the GDP numbers have to go up, following which business people will be confident of investing in."

He said that the private companies will also invest once they see the GDP is going up.

There also a need to encourage the Make in India initiative, when it comes to manufacturing, he added. He refused to comment on the queries related to the proposed merger of Shriram Group into IDFC and IDFC Bank. Both Shriram Group and IDFC has earlier this month announced that they will have an exclusive period of 90 days to discuss and shape up a potential merger of Shriram Capital's financial services business into IDFC and IDFC Bank, subject to regulatory approvals.

Commenting on the education sector, he said the number of Indians working abroad is going to increase as countries with ageing population would require young people to work. He added that policy of various countries opposing immigration is mainly towards those people who come with their own issues whereas the Indians have only contributed positively to those societies. The United States has become what it is today because of the immigrated population, he added.