NEW DELHI, Apr 22: Amidst an impression of reforms slowing down, CII President Adi Godrej today said his chamber will work with the government, opposition and the states for speedy implementation of key measures like GST and FDI in retail to revive growth. “We will interact very strongly with the Central government, the state governments and political parties to see that the differences are minimised,” Godrej told. Newly elected CII President said that the chamber would also help the states “to propagate best practices.” However, he admitted that bringing the government and the opposition together on contentious issues would be a difficult task. “…We are not naive enough to believe that the government and the opposition will suddenly join hands, but CII can play a part as it has good access to the opposition, state governments and central government,” he said. Several important decisions such as allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi brand retail, passage of Goods and Services Tax legislation, hiking FDI limit in insurance and pension reforms, have been pending in the wake of differences between the government and the opposition. On some of the issues like FDI in multi-brand retail, there are differences within the UPA alliance stalling the decisions. These measures are considered important for reviving the economic growth which has slipped to 6.9 per cent in 2011-12 from about eight per cent in the past few years. However, Chairman of the Godrej Group did not agree that the coalition politics was a roadblock in in achieving higher growth. “We have done very well in coalition politics in the past. We have had nine per cent growth. It is not only an issue of coalition politics. The reform process has slowed down due to lack of governance,” he added. Commenting on the FDI, he said: “FDI should be opened up in sectors like insurance, telecom and retail. It does not only bring investment but also technology. If certain states do not agree, let them not agree and the government should go ahead with it.” (PTI)
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