'Implement GST, improve investment climate, address cheap imports'

With a CII-ASCON survey showing improvement in Indian growth trends for the fourth quarter ended March over the same period last year, industry chamber CII on Sunday said government needs to implement the proposed GST), improve investment climate and address issue of cheap imports, as majority of sectors are seeing moderate growth.

"The CII ASCON survey results for the quarter January-March FY16 reveals an improvement in growth trends in terms of production in the quarter over the corresponding quarter a year ago," the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in a statement here.

"The Survey respondents have emphasized that coupled with sustaining the reforms agenda, particularly ensuring quicker progress on reforms such as the GST Bill and Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Amendment Bill, 2015, will impart greater certainty to investors on the policy front," it added.

The survey, which tracks the growth of economic sectors on a quarterly basis, shows that while a majority of the sectors are still continuing to witness "moderate" growth rates of (0 to 10 per cent) with "excellent" (above 20 per cent) and "high" (10-20 per cent) growth limited only to few sectors, there has been a sharp decline in the share of sectors registering "low" growth (below 0 per cent).

The report also stressed on quick implementation of budget announcements, especially in infrastructure, boosting export competitiveness and addressing the issue of delayed payments.

"Going forward, on the back of the various measures and structural reforms taken by the government, it is expected that the current momentum would be supportive of the revival becoming broad based in the coming quarters," it said.

To support the Make in India initiative, there is a need to strengthen anti-dumping laws to protect local manufacturing and provide subsidies on production of major raw materials of key export products to make them cost competitive, the survey said.

"Increasing tax credit and providing tax deduction for R&D would provide a competitive edge to several sectors involving R&D. Tax incentives would significantly help small companies, which face a difficult task of acquiring credit from banks," it added.

Out of the 102 sectors surveyed including crude oil, cement and natural gas, the share of sectors registering "excellent" growth has remained constant during the fourth quarter of 2015-16.

--IANS

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