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Richard Rekhy, CEO of consultancy firm KPMG India, says that government could have taken advantage of India Economic Summit and announced some steps in the event. Rekhy tells Indivjal Dhasmana and Sanjeeb Mukherjee that businesses are looking eagerly at the new government to take action on the ground. Meanwhile, the consultancy firm has brought India WEFlive.com, which aggregates and stream live tweets at the Summit, for the first time to the Indian sub-continent.
What message is going out about the Indian economy from India Economic Summit?
Message is positive at the moment because there is growth in Indian economy, growth is trending and also the expectations that growth will be back to the six per cent range. Business sentiment is very positive, mood is very positive. But, I think one question that every body is asking is when will the action be taken on the ground. This is a forum where the government could have made some announcements, because this is a forum, the whole world is looking at India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not come. He could have announced some steps. Does it make any difference?
No these dates were fixed much before. Prime ministers would not come for every event. Finance minister Arun Jaitley was there, but he did not make any announcement
Has it disappointed the participants?
No, I am saying the government could have taken advantage. I am not saying the participants were disappointed. It was a great forum, the whole world is watching you. World Economic Forum's summit happens in 4-5 countries outside Davos. Every time it goes to some country, people look at that country as to what is happening there. That could have been an opportunity. Now, that opportunity was missed or that was strategically decided not to do something, I am not aware.
The Summit was also organised, close on the heels of India dropping further two notches in the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking. Has it found any echo here? Did people say that India is a difficult country to business in?
People say that. People are very frustrated with doing business in India. But, the government is making lots of announcements in getting rid of old laws, bringing consistency in tax laws. Everybody is waiting very expectedly for the Budget which is going to be tabled in Parliament in February. There is lot of hope on Jaitley to come out with a budget which is very relevant. People's hope is very high. In India, we have lot of temptations. But, foreigners may be viewing it differently. They may be saying that the government should be given one year and let us see how it comes out. Some times, it is important to make small moves which have big impacts. World is looking at India to do something. For example a road map on goods and services tax has to be rolled out. You need to bring out amendments to the Companies Act. The current Act is very difficult to implement. We need to have more clarity on corporate social responsibility.
When you give advice to investors about India, do all these frustrations and negative elements figure in conversations?
No, we are giving them a positive advice. We tell them things are actually changing. Every body is impatient and want the change to be faster, but it will take time. One important thing is people have promised, but big bang investments have not come in. People are waiting and watching. They want clarity, what would be changes in the land acquisition law, tax and regulatory parts, opening of FDI in certain sectors, even when it is opened there are lots of confusion. There needs to be clarity.
