We need to have 2 or 3 GST rates, than 5: Rakesh Bharti Mittal

NEW DELHI:

Rakesh Bharti Mittal

, vice-chairman of Bharti Enterprises and the newly appointed president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) says he expects the real estate sector to revive on the back of affordable housing. In an interview to TOI, Mittal talks about the road ahead for the economy.

What is your assessment of the economy?

This year looks good on the back of IMF projection that the economy is going to grow at 7.4%. CII has projected 7.3-7.4.%. Globally, all economies are growing. The global GDP will be up from 3.7% to 3.9%. This is good news for India and the Indian industry. Consumer demand is moving up. The auto sector, FMCG, steel and cement industry are doing well on the back of infrastructure spending . With increasing rural demand, unutilised capacities will start getting filled up. Now it’s time for the Indian industry to think of fresh investments in capacity expansion, new facilities and others. The key focus areas for us this year are agriculture, education, skilling, and healthcare.

Which are the sectors seem to be struggling?

The real estate sector is still struggling but we should start seeing some movements in next six months on the back of RERA and low-cost housing. Because of demonetization and GST, there wasn’t much spending happening. But, that is reviving.

The implementation of GST had hit a few roadblocks. Is it smoother now?

Any time you bring in big reforms, there will be problems in educating the small players. But, the major concerns of the industry have been taking care of. Rationalising of rates is important. India can’t have a single GST rate for sure. But, we need to have two or three rates, than five at present. Also, the four left out sectors — petroleum, power, alcohol, and real estate — need to be bought under the GST regime at the earliest. And there is a need to do consensus building among the state governments on this.

What are your views on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code?

Prior to IBC, closure of a company led to loss of resources and lenders losing money. IBC will help in quick resolutions. We are seeing a positive movement. I wish we see quick results because that will bring in confidence. Lenders will get their money. Employees will not lose their jobs and the new shareholder will ensure that the company is revived. It’s still a work in progress.

With the increase in automation threatening jobs in India, has the interaction between corporate industry and startups increased to keep up with the technology?

If companies have to be competitive globally, they have to invest in automation. That may mean loss of jobs, but may create new jobs also. We started a startup India fund, headed by Kris Gopalakrishnan, last year. We have set up a task force where CII will hand-hold 50 startups. Senior industry members can be mentors. The idea is to help them build scale. Industry and the academia also have to seriously start engaging with each other.

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