New CII President Sanjiv Bajaj upbeat about India

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At his first press conference the new President of CII, Sanjiv Bajaj, provided interesting projections on India @ 100 (2047) as also on India @ 2030. There was perceptible optimism on India recording impressive growth over the next 25 years. The projections showed India emerging strong as an economic power with handsome share in global manufacturing, exports, technology…

CII deserves credit for the work done in providing detailed information on the industrial, agriculture and service sectors. Over the medium term there have been suggestions on ensuring balanced development of the different regions and states. It might be recalled that till 1991 in the regime of licences, permits and quotas, the task was with the Central government for deciding on the location of economic activity. Inthe next three decades states assumed this power. There was competition among states to attract investments. But these have been best utilised by hardly a handful of alert states. CII’s plans to assist in such opportunities to be seized by the initiatives of states is thus welcome.

CII has been following a rotational system of Presidency. Over the last four years the presidentships moved successively from Rakesh Mittal (north), Vikram Kirloskar (south), Uday Kotak (west) and T V Narendran (east). The assumption of Sanjiv Bajaj from the western region as President is breaking the regional rotation of presidentship: just after a year in 2021-22 the Presidency has again gone to the west. Interestingly, the incumbent President from Mumbai is also a star from the financial services sector – Sanjiv Bajaj after Uday Kotak. Bajaj Finserv and Sanjiv Bajaj have been making waves for their meteoric growth and innovative strategies.

The Covid 19 pandemic severely restricted CII’s activities in the last couple of years. The pent-up energies are resulting in resumption of activities with new vigour and energy. The meets at Delhi and, Chennai in recent months, have provided rich fares on a variety of issues. The crowning piece was the virtual two-day Being Future Ready Business Summit held on 11-12 May. The discussions with Tata Sons’ N Chandrasekar, Airtel’s Sunil Mittal, Hero’s Pawan Munjal and Tata Steel’s T V Narendran provided new insights into the present status of industries as also into the future. Sanjiv Bajaj has started with large sections of businesses recording healthy performance through 2021-22 and with the government forging ahead with economic reforms. There is a promise for CII making an even deeper impact.

In an exhaustive presentation, Bajaj was understandably upbeat. I raised the issue of steep rise in inflation, to the prices of a wide range of commodities and services, not just confined to petroleum products over which the country doesn’t have control. The prices of aluminium, cement, coal, copper, steel… have also been registering continuous and steep increases. In turn, a vast range of consumer and other industrial goods have been recording such increase in prices. eg. two-wheelers, cars, commercial vehicles, appliances…

CREDAI recently confirmed an increase of Rs 600/sq.ft on new flats and houses. It is a 15-20 per cent increase in the prices of modest-sized flats.

Financial expert Sanjiv Bajaj should help CII focus on this important issue with its severe impact on consumer spending and economic growth.