Indian entrepreneurs need to think global to meet customer needs: Goenka

Anant Goenka optimistic on demand revival, outlines budget priorities including defense, electronics hubs, and export incentives

Last week, Anant Goenka, vice chairman of the RPG group, took over as the president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci). In a sit-down interview with Asit Ranjan Mishra and Gulveen Aulakh, Goenka explains the challenges and opportunities for India Inc as he sees it. Edited excerpts:

 

Q. We have seen gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the second quarter of 2025-26 (Q2FY26) at 8.2 per cent, but the index of industrial production (IIP) data for October and goods and services tax (GST) numbers for November have not been very encouraging. How do you see growth turning out for the rest of the financial year?

 

Overall, I'm fairly optimistic about future growth. Some amount of holiday season, not good production happening because of closure due to holidays had some (adverse) impact. But largely, if you see between the change in income tax slab as well as GST rationalisation, nearly ₹2.5 trillion has been pumped into consumption. So, with that coming in, I'm fairly optimistic that demand will be strong and, therefore, even corporate investment should be at a much better position going forward.

 

Q. Geopolitical and external risks have been a cause of concern. We are negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US, and the 50 per cent tariff has been there for some time now. How is India Inc coping with the high tariff?

 

There are very few focused industries such as garments, shrimp, and gems & jewellery that have seen a larger impact. But we were just looking at some data, and actually most of the industries have actually grown in exports.

 

Gems & jewellery overall has grown. So, the entire diversification strategy, whether it is because of FTAs or because of just focus on different geographies, has been positive. The garment industry is one that has not fully been able to absorb or pass on the entire impact.

 

But there are a lot of positive signs that we are seeing on the FTA front. We had the commerce secretary address our AGM (annual general meeting). Hopefully, there'll be some positive news soon. That is what I have gathered from indications that he gave us in the talk. So, hopefully that will be over and one big geopolitical challenge that we have seen will be behind us.

 

Q. The government is clearly on a reforms path. What is the biggest challenge that you think the Indian industry is currently facing? And what needs to be done?

 

We have been working with the government on market factor reforms. So, labour has been addressed. The next two would be land and power as factors of production. Logistics, also, I would put as something that is a long-term game. How do we avoid cross-subsidisation and bring down power costs? That would be certainly one area. Second is ease of doing business at a state-level as well. With the central taskforce that has been set up, there is a higher focus on states. So, while the Centre has high intent, action on reforms at the state level will certainly help. Healthy competition between states or between districts can be something that will create a positive momentum. Factories that are continuously operating without too much change can undergo self-certification in some way rather than having to obtain consent to operate every few years.

 

Q. Why do you think private capex is not picking up as expected?

 

One big challenge for capex not happening was demand. The government has played its part. As demand and utilisation levels go up in factories, I am fairly optimistic that we should see a spurring of private consumption; private expenditure or corporate expenditure should come in for sure out of that. There's some onus also industry needs to take. We can think more global as entrepreneurs. How do we cater to global customer needs? How do we innovate for that customer? How do we make sure we brand, invest in these countries, and invest in people? So, thinking more global, doing a little bit more innovation, research and development (R&D) are our core focus in Ficci.

 

Q. Now that the labour codes are in place, what challenges do you see in their implementation? Also, companies need to restructure their compensation packages for their employees.

 

It's an extremely positive shift that has happened. It had been in the offing for a fair amount of time, but it's great that the government has gone ahead with this. Implementation is something we have to work again closely with the government to make sure it is uniformly done across all states, and adopted across the board. Maybe some states will go a little slow, some will be at a certain pace, but movement across the states would be one thing that comes to mind as an area that we have to focus on. Otherwise, it's very, very positive.

 

Q. The government sometime back started focusing a lot on quality control orders (QCOs), and suddenly it has again started reversing some of them. What is your stand on QCOs?

 

To a certain extent, it enforces higher quality products, which can be assured to the customers. On the other hand, there are certain compliance challenges that may arise. We need to ensure that there's enough labs and testing capabilities to make sure there are no long waits and bureaucracy around that. Maybe in sectors that are more consumption-focused, if you have a QCO for final products, you may not need it for intermediate products. It's a balance between quality and ease of implementation.

 

Q. What are your key expectations from the upcoming Budget?

 

One is a high level thought of Atmanirbharta (self-reliance), which is particularly focused on two or three sectors we have recommended. One is defence and national security; we are seeing increased outlay on defence spending around the world. Our recommendation is 30 per cent increase in (defence) capex, with a larger focus on new frontier defence, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), drones, technology, cyber technology, and so on. Also, increase in spending on the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) to about ₹10,000 crore.

 

Second suggestion is to set up a mega industrial park for EMS (electronics manufacturing services). There, the benefits of working in a value chain close to each other is very high, which increases the value addition. So, an outlay where all OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), assemblers and everyone else can come in and set up business together is needed.

 

Third, the government had the recent critical minerals mission. On that, how can we also add a mission for the tailings such as fly ash, leftovers from mines, etc? How do we extract critical minerals from them? 

 

Further strengthening of technological capability in drones is an area. We also had a view on export promotion. So, increasing the outlay for the RODTEP (remission of duties and taxes on exported products) scheme is another area. Then guidance for transfer pricing certainty for India's GCCs (global capability centres) is another one that we have suggested.