Slowdown palpable in reform process: PHD Chamber

With crucial Bills like GST stuck in Parliament, industry body PHD Chamber today said the process of initiating policy reforms has slowed down in the last few months, which will have a "long term" impact on the economy.
"I think in the last two sessions of Parliament, since the Bills have not been passed, there is a slowdown in the reform process. There is no two opinion about this", the body's newly appointed President Mahesh Gupta said.
The impact of this will be long term and the Government needs to rethink and provide push to various sectors to boost the infrastructure sector, he said.

However, Gupta said the country is not experiencing "policy paralysis" as of now.
"We don't have a policy paralysis right now. We have a strong Prime Minister who is taking decisions. Only thing is the legislative measures are not coming forward. I don't think this will stay for a long time", he said.
Besides, to boost demand, the chamber suggested that the government should increase the income tax deduction for interest paid on home loan for a self-occupied house to Rs 5 lakh from the current level of Rs 2 lakh.

Referring to the GST Bill being stalled in Parliament, Gupta said: "One party, the main opposition party, is opposing the Bill... I think this needs to be sorted out. Day in and day out, we are seeing some political activity happening which is not conducive to the atmosphere."

Besides, the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PHDCCI) also demanded repeal of existing labour laws, saying such laws have put unnecessary regulatory burden on businesses.
Asking the government to frame a single comprehensive law instead, it demanded simplification of exit rules for Indian and foreign entities.
Seeking a revisit of the new Companies Act 2013, Gupta said it is not synchronous with the growth of businesses as the compliance required is extremely high. It is also not conducive to the growth of large enterprises as well as micro, small and medium firms.