Gujarat Chamber Submits 10-Point Plan To Revive Economy

The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) has submitted a 10-point detailed memorandum outlining an action plan for the revival of Indian economy to the Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha.

Disclosing this here on Thursday, GCCI president Kalyan J Shah said that in order to bring Indian economy out of the present economic slowdown, it was essential to enhance investment in manufacturing capacities as also in infrastructure and rural development projects so that additional purchasing power gets pumped into the economy. This in turn would provide a demand push to the Indian economy and enable it to attain a higher growth rate.

Emphasising that bold initiatives are needed to restore confidence of trade, industry and the common men, Shah called for substantial opening up of the Indian economy and liberalisation of conditions for facilitating inflow of FDI as has been done by China. When imports are made free, restrictions on exports should also be completely rolled back, he added.

GCCI has suggested to the Central government to improve the overall climate for enterprise both in industry and agriculture, reform macro-economic policy, ensure reduction in fiscal deficit and hike investment in education, health, community development, nutrition and family planning with suitable shift in priorities.

There is also a dire need to increase external financial support for strengthening expansion and for diversification of manufacturing base by obtaining political consensus on policy reforms, GCCI added.

Advocating the need for faster integration with global economy, GCCI felt that swift and comprehensive reforms would promote larger production and productivity, enhance productive employment opportunities, enlarge exports and bring greater equity in distribution of income and assets in the society.

"By doing so, we will encourage sustainable economic growth while meeting the needs of the present generation and go ahead without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs," GCCI pointed out.

Highlighting the need for taking crucial actions in a number of key areas to obtain full benefits of the reforms carried out so far, GCCI president said that such measures would help unleash the latent energies in agricultural, industrial and commercial sectors. "This in turn will result in a higher level of economic activity and thereby eventually stem the economic slowdown being currently witnessed in the Indian economy," he added.