New industrial policy needed for India: CII

There is a need for a new industrial policy in place of the current one drafted in the 1990s said the first woman President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Shobana Kamineni here on Monday.

She also said private sector investments would kick in once investment in infrastructure is done by the government and the banks start funding projects, resolving the issue of corporate loans that have gone bad.

Speaking to reporters here, Kamineni, also the Executive Vice Chairman of the Apollo Hospitals, said the business landscape has changed a lot now with new segments like e-commerce and others coming into play.

The line between services and manufacturing is also getting blurred. The nature of manufacturing too has changed with productivity being higher employing lesser number of people.

"We need a new industrial policy," Kamineni said.

She said private sector investments will come in once the infrastructure investments by the government start.

According to Kamineni, private sector corporates had expanded their capacities a couple of years back and were now operating in around 70-80 per cent capacity utilisation.

She also said investments would go to states where it is easy to do business and states that levy additional tax over the Goods and Services Tax (GST) would lose out on fresh investments.

The Tamil Nadu government had proposed 30 per cent entertainment tax in addition to the GST rate of 28 per cent.

--IANS

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