CII Welcomes Government’s Pro Active Stance to Improve Ease of Doing Business in India

A closed door meeting was convened by Mr Ajit Seth, Cabinet Secretary, Government of India with representatives of Industry on measures for improving ease of doing business in India today at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The Session was also attended by key Secretaries of the Government of India.

Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII said that “CII believes that, with the reformative drive and resolve of the Government to improve ease of doing business in India, Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of India reaching among top 50 countries in next two years looks eminently achievable.”

In order to achieve this significant milestone, CII feels that it is important now to take the State Governments on board as a number of key procedures are executed at the State level the CII release said.

Speaking on the subject, Mr Banerjee said that “CII is keen to work closely with the Government to ensure greater degree of technology adoption which will allow concurrent clearances in place of sequential clearances to effect simplification of procedures and processes.”

CII has shared with the Government 3 Reports dealing with the existing best practices at the States, An Action Plan for the Central Government on ease of doing business in India, and Recommendations to improve investment attractiveness which will result in catapulting India’s ranking on all the parameters measured by the World Bank’s Doing Business Report.

Mr Banerjee said that “CII is pleased to note that many of the recommendations have been acted upon by the Government recently and some have been announced to be implemented in due course of time.”

 “With the milestone oriented approach and clear roadmap adopted by the Government, CII is confident that India could see significant jump in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking” Mr Banerjee added.

CII Welcomes WTO Trade Deal

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) welcomes adopting of Bali Ministerial decisions related to public stockholding for food security purposes, the Trade Facilitation Agreement and the post-Bali work. “By agreeing to adopt the three key decisions made at Bali Ministerial, WTO members brought back the Doha trade negotiations back on track and now we hope that soon the members would prepare a work plan on the remaining Doha agenda”, said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

 “This is indeed a historic moment for World Trade Organisation, which will be celebrating its 20^th anniversary in 2015. It would be a befitting tribute to WTO if all members help conclude the long continuing Doha round of trade negotiations in 2015, the 20^th year of its establishment”, Mr. Banerjee emphasised.

While the decision on public holding for food security purpose protects the nutritional needs of millions of poor people in developing world, the adoption of protocol on Trade Facilitation will give a much needed boost to world trade, which witnessed downward trend in post- crisis period.       

 Only in July this year, the WTO members failed to adopt the Bali Ministerial Decision on Trade Facilitation, Food Security and LDCs issues. WTO members have shown great maturity in making this turnaround in less than six months.  CII sincerely hopes that WTO members will not lose this momentum and do everything to conclude the round at the earliest.