We don't lobby, no need to legalise lobbying in India: CII

Amid the ongoing debate on the role of lobbyists in India,leading industry chamber CII today said its functioning is different from that of a deal maker and there was no need to follow the US for licensed lobbying in the country.

"We are not lobbyists, we are advocates... (We) help build policy framework and perform advocacy work," CII's newly elected President, Hari S Bhartia, told PTI.

Earlier, another industry chamber, FICCI, had expressed similar views, saying there was no need for legalised system of lobbying in the country on the lines of the US.

On whether the government should introduce legalised-lobbying, he said: "We don't need anything like license for lobbying. We work with the government very closely. We are partners."

On this issue, FICCI President Rajan Mittal told PTI after taking charge of the  chamber that, "The government's job is to be a facilitator; that's what they should do and if they they do that there is no room for any lobbyist... If you (government) open avenues, remove obstacles and roadblocks, why should you have a lobbyist?"
    
The role of lobbyists had come in for an intense discussion in Parliament, with Opposition parties stalling proceedings on a few occasions following reported conversations between a lobbyist and Telecom Minister A Raja on the 2G spectrum issue.
    
Replying to queries by the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, Home Minister P Chidambaram had said, "We will have to consider what to do with lobbyists. These are grave issues to be addressed. We take the point. But we will address these issues. But let us not assume that the whole government is run by lobbyists."
     
Bhartia said there was a huge difference between industry chambers and lobby groups, who are basically deal-makers.
    
"Deal-making is not transparent. No, we don't do lobbying... Industry chambers look at the complete and fair interest of the industry," he said.
    
"We are doing advocacy of business... Most of the time, we work on policy level to really unshackle the potential of business," Bhartia said.

Mittal had said, "We have never been a lobby group... We are influencers. Lobbying is when I lobby and go and say I want to lobby for a particular cause, that's lobbying, we are influencing, we were never a lobbyist... I don't go and talk about (tinkering with duties), but wherever industry gets impacted on policy matters, I think it is the job of chambers to go and engage the government."
    
On whether the government should introduce legalised lobbying to get rid of the malice of informal corporate lobbying through use of money, he said no and added that there have been dramatic changes over the years and there was hardly any need for going to Udyog Bhawan (the Industry Ministry) for any concession.
    
Asked if he saw a role for FICCI in disciplining corporates in the face of reports of growing malpractices in fighting rivals and insider trading, Mittal said: "I don't think we have any role to play... Our role is there to see the policy matters."
    
Mittal, however, said that the government needs to deal with such entities and the chamber would back such efforts. "As you give more responsibility, accountability and transparency come... And if the corporate don't behave, government needs to come strictly on them... We will always back the government and it's not our role to play an intermediary for anybody.