Mumbai: India has made significant progress across several sectors over the past 12 years, but the country must become more globally competitive to achieve its ambition of becoming a $10 trillion economy, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President R. Mukundan said on Tuesday.
In an interaction with IANS, Mukundan said India has witnessed substantial improvements in infrastructure sectors such as power, logistics, railways, ports and shipping. However, he stressed that the country must outperform competing manufacturing destinations such as China and Vietnam to establish itself as a leading global manufacturing hub.
He said the focus must now move beyond “ease of doing business” to improving the “speed of doing business” by accelerating approvals, investments and project execution.
Commenting on foreign direct investment (FDI), Mukundan noted that while Indian companies are increasingly investing overseas, India needs additional reforms to attract greater foreign capital. Simplifying investment procedures and reducing delays, he said, would help enhance investor confidence and boost capital inflows.
On the proposed India-US trade agreement, he said India has signed several free trade agreements in recent years, but their utilisation remains below potential.
According to him, increasing free trade utilisation is essential to maximise the benefits of these agreements. He also highlighted significant opportunities for collaboration between India and the United States in sectors such as defence, aerospace and advanced manufacturing.
Mukundan said achieving the $10 trillion economy target would require substantial expansion of shipping capacity, ports and railway infrastructure. Greater digitalisation of government and industrial processes, he added, would improve efficiency and support faster economic growth.
The CII president described the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme as highly successful in the electronics sector and said similar incentives should be extended to labour-intensive industries such as furniture and toys to strengthen domestic manufacturing and generate employment.
On the energy transition, Mukundan said building transmission infrastructure takes time and therefore greater emphasis should be placed on strengthening power distribution systems. He noted that industry bodies have submitted several recommendations to the government on improving energy infrastructure.
(IANS)
