This law will land us in trouble

Views of Chandrajit Banerjee, Director-General, CII

The proposed land acquisition law ramps up acquisition costs to unmanageable levels.

Although India has one of the largest land masses in the world, the many competing needs for land have led to a crisis in acquisition for industrialisation and urbanisation.

According to a CII analysis, land acquisition has emerged as one of the biggest hurdles delaying projects worth lakhs of crores. In this context, there is an urgent need to frame a balanced piece of legislation that would address diverse needs of landowners, project-affected families and industry is more acute. 

RBI Needs to Act on Multiple Fronts to Revive Economy

Views of Kris Gopalakrishnan, President, CII

CII has noted that the RBI has held its key rates owing to the volatility in the Rupee. We understand the decision of the RBI on the rates. We draw heart from the statement of the RBI saying that had it not been for the volatility, the rates could have been reduced, since inflation has started to moderate. We see this as a softening of stance by the RBI.

However, the moderation of growth outlook by the RBI is a matter of great concern and this enforces our view that actions on multiple fronts are required to help the economy revive. Besides a large number of policies needing implementation, CII hopes that at the forthcoming session of the Parliament, some of the key legislations would get enacted, which would send out the correct messages to investors at home and abroad. These include the Bills on Insurance, Pensions, etc.  

CII submits a detailed list of 62 stalled projects: 17 Projects Cleared by Project Management Group

CII appreciates the Government’s commitment to rapid implementation of large infrastructure projects.

CII has learnt that 17 large infrastructure projects have been cleared in the last two weeks by the Project Management Group (PMG) recently set up in the Cabinet Secretariat to fast-track infrastructure projects. PMG has initiated an innovative and effective monitoring mechanism deploying e-governance to track and review the progress of the large infrastructure projects. In consultation with concerned companies, CII had prepared a detailed list of 62 infrastructure projects of over Rs 1,000 crores each and submitted it to the PMG. 

Pragmatic Approach to Attract FDI in Multi Brand Retail Trade

CII  urges Government to adopt a Pragmatic Approach to Attract FDI in Multi Brand Retail Trade

Organized retail in India has been growing at a healthy CAGR of nearly 25 percent over the last five years.

However organized retail still forms less than 10 percent of the sales across most consumer categories in India. In categories like food and grocery organized retail contributes less than 3 percent of sales.

This gap in sales through organized retail provides the growth opportunity. As per a BCG study, the consumption set to more than triple in size over the next decade, and sales through organized retail could reach nearly 20 percent by 2020. The study also found that FDI in Multi brand Retail will give a boost to the Organized Retail sector, which positively impacts several stakeholders including – producers, workers, employees and consumers and Government and hence, the overall economy. Under a favorable regulatory and economic environment, opening up of FDI can increase organized retail market size to USD 260 billion by 2020 (constant exchange rates).