New Delhi: Suresh Prabhu, the commerce and industry minister-designate, has identified job creation through industrial policy, export facilitation and boost to foreign direct investment (FDI) as his thrust areas, while promising to build on reforms undertaken by the government during the first three years of the Narendra Modi government.
"We will continue the reforms undertaken and build on them. Focus will be to enhance economic activity in the country by enhancing ease of doing business. Employment generation through a robust industrial policy is another area to focus on. I will also focus on enhancing exports by providing the right facilitation. Ensuring Indian business to be part of the global supply chain will be the key," Prabhu told TOI. He also said that continuing and further progressing the flagship programmes, 'Make in India' and 'Startup India', will be a major thrust, along with boosting FDI, which he identified as a "big priority".
Prabhu, who spent the last two years trying to get the railways back on track, is due to take charge on Monday morning and comes at a time when export growth has picked up marginally, while FDI flows remain strong. For someone whose first ministerial job at the Centre was as industry minister in the 13-day Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1996, Udyog Bhawan is not a chartered territory. While a lot of water has flown under the bridge in the last two decades, some things have not changed, such as the unending debate over opening up the multi-brand retail business to foreign players. After his officers brief him, the Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh will also have to decide on the merits of opening up the e-commerce sector to foreign players, something that the likes of Amazon have been demanding for several years now.
But before that, he will have to carry forward the work of introducing a new set of measures to boost exports, which have seen a mild recovery in the wake of adverse global headwinds, and the erosion of competitiveness due to an appreciating rupee — which has gained nearly 6% in 2017. Exporters are complaining of further erosion in their competitiveness due to the introduction of goods and services tax (GST) as their need for working capital from banks has increased, pushing up costs.
Prabhu's experience in railways is, however, going to come handy in improving logistics, a job recently assigned to the commerce department. But between all this he has to ensure that India's interests are not just protected at the WTO ministerial meeting three months later but some headway is made in getting a better deal for services through robust rules that do not block access to software and other professionals.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com