Rahul meets Ficci brass; urges industry to be part of growth process

Rahul Gandhi's moves to engage with the business fraternity is seen as a strategy against the Bharatiya Janata Party's much-hyped model of economic growth

A day after he stressed on the Congress party’s model of inclusive growth along with infrastructure development, its vice-president Rahul Gandhi met the brass of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) on Friday.

During the meeting with the team, including Ficci president Naina Lal Kidwai and secretary-general A Didar Singh, he said he wanted to engage industry in the country’s growth. “Rahul Gandhi’s endorsement of the importance of projects like the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and National Industrial Manufacturing Zones, are well placed as these will create an enabling environment for industrial growth,” Kidwai told Business Standard.

Gandhi’s moves to engage with the business fraternity is seen as a strategy against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s much-hyped model of economic growth. His words — “growth with the help of industry is critical for the Indian economy” — must have been reassuring to captains of industry, who have been wary of the UPA government’s focus on sops for the ‘aam aadmi’.

Last week, too, Gandhi had met a select group of women industrialists including Kidwai (HSBC India), Kalpana Morparia (JP Morgan India), Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (Biocon), Renuka Ramnath (Multiples Alternate Assets Management) and Sangita Reddy (Apollo Hospitals).

Prior to that, in September, he had invited select industrialists to his residence, including R P Sanjiv Goenka Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka, CEO of Axis Bank Shikha Sharma, Bengal Ambuja Housing Development Ltd managing director Harshavardhan Neotia and former Hindustan Unilever CEO Nitin Paranjpe.

On Thursday, the Confederation of Indian Industry and Ficci had issued statements appreciating Gandhi's stance on inclusive growth and on support to manufacturing sector and industry.

When asked whether Ficci was interacting only with the Congress, Kidwai pointed out Ficci had met BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Yashwant Sinha, Sushil Modi.