Govt can be bolder on administration, financial reforms: Leo Puri

Industry veteran says govt needs to focus on areas where reforms are much easier

As disappointment grows over delay in reforms, Leo Puri, MD, UTI Mutual Fund, has said the government can become much bolder with the administrative and financial sector reforms to build the people’s confidence and show that changes are indeed taking place on the ground.

Stating that issues around “land, labour and resources” are deep-rooted, Puri said any reform in these areas would certainly take time and therefore, the government needs to focus on areas where reforms are much easier.

"I did not have expectations that big-bang type reforms, which some people expected, would ever be easy. A lot of people were hoping for big-bang reforms.

"To the extent you were hoping for big-bang reforms, perhaps there has been some disappointment. But that does not mean that we should not expect some very strong, purposeful, incremental reforms," said Puri, Managing Director of the country's oldest fund house UTI Mutual Fund.

Puri, a dual Masters degree holder from Oxford and Cambridge University of the UK, said that India is a high- growth economy that has reasonable potential for 7 per cent plus growth over the next 2-3 years.

"That makes India stand out. We do still have our much talked about advantages in terms of demography, consumer demand and so on. There is still enough belief that we have a government that is broadly committed to reforms.

"That is not fundamentally altered, while there are varying degrees of expectations on the pace, speed and execution and approach. As of now, most people are still of the view that we have a government that is committed to reforms and they are backing them," Puri told PTI in an interview here.

When asked whether the expectations were too high, Puri said it is a matter of personal opinion.

"The issues around land, labour and resources are very deep-rooted and nobody can wish them away. Also, we have a constitutional framework that encourages checks and balances, whether it is judiciary providing a check on executive or the legislature providing a check on executive," he said.

Hopeful for reforms in all possible areas over a period of time, Puri said, "There is a policy in place for each major area of economy -- whether it is land, labour, resources, development of infrastructure, reforms of financial systems.

"These are all important areas and there are still some policy gaps. I think the government is framing its views where would it like to take reforms in some of these sectors.

"I think, once these things get clearer, one should at least be able to see the progressive steps and I think that should be able to satisfy most reasonable investors."

Puri, who has been heading UTI Mutual Fund for about two years now, was earlier Managing Director at global private equity giant Warburg Pincus. He has previously also worked as Director and Senior Advisor with McKinsey.